Once upon a time
by mysterious advisor
Summary: This is my version of how the senshi and the shitennou met on the moon and fell in love, during the Silver Milennium. Just another romance with a lot of twists and turns !
1. a bet and five misterious voices

What if during one long night, Jeddy and Zoi make a bet with the others and send their prince up on the moon, with only half of his clothes on? What if is he ends up in the Moon Palace's garden and is luckily found by five crazy princesses? And, most importantly, what if his generals follow his lead and go on the Moon to retrieve him? Add some very angry characters we all know and love and you get complete madness and one hell of a romance story. This is my version of how the senshi and the shitennou met and fell in love with each other, during the Silver Millenium. Hope you like it!

* * *

"Are you two sure about this?" Jadeite glanced over at the other blonde general and the dark-haired one. They glared back at him and he simply rose up his shoulders. "Just checking…"

"There's no point in assuming facts before actuallygetting up there." Kunzite appeared on the balcony, along with his other three friends and pointed at the moon in the night sky, without even looking at it.

"Yeah… we should just barge in, grab Endy and get it over with!" Nephrite said grumpily, crossing his arm over his chest and sighing very unpleased with how things worked for him. Jadeite glared at him, Zoicite looked away, trying to make himself invisible, while Kunzite just exhaled loudly.

"Look, if we fight now, instead of putting up a plan that might actually work and get all of us through, we could manage to get Endymion back before his parents and the others would even notice it." Kunzite said, once again making sense and proving to the others why he was the shitennou leader.

"Well, now! We wouldn't even have to do this… if it weren't for some people around here who just had to make a bet the other night and start enchanting ancient spells all around the palace, now would we?" Nephrite spoke, starting to get very annoyed with the fact that he had to go up on the moon with the others in order to retrieve their prince. He had soooo many other things to do and most were much safer than flying to some unknown place and saving prince Endymion… but, in the end, he remained their friend and lord… so they pretty much had no choice…

"Well, it's not like we were all alone or something…" Jadeite spoke sardonically.

"Yeah… and besides, Neph I thought you loved astronomy, the space and stuff like that…" Zoicite completed.

"I like stars… I'm sorry, Your Smartness, does it occur to you that the moon is nota star?" the auburn-haired man was starting to get really angry.

"No… considering the moon is actually the only natural satellite that the Earth has…" the wavy-haired man spoke, stepping backwards.

"Is that so?" Nephrite mocked him and started walking towards the two blondes with a wild sparkle in his eyes. Still, thanks to Kunzite's strong arm, the two managed to survive.

"Let's just all calm down and form the plan I was talking about earlier. Ponting fingers now won't do any good. It would just delay us and I'm pretty sure that all of us had other plans for the next days, including the prince himself. Am I correct?" the silver-haired leader rose and an eyebrow and glanced at all of them. Nephrite decided to try and calm down for the moment, remaining quiet, while the two blondes nodded their heads like mad. Letting out another deep sight, Kunzite spoke one last time. "Alright, let's see what we can do…"

* * *

"Do you think he's alive?" a curious voice wondered out loud.

"How should I know?" an angry one answered.

"I have an idea! Poke him… and if he answers, then he's alive!" a much bright one said.

"Yeah… and let me do that!" a sadic one pleaded and a loud "No" was heared. "Why not? Maybe this way the strangers will learn that is illegal to enter the palace's gardens without approval and half-naked!" the same voice spoke further.

"Makoto, we all know what you're capable of! You really don't have to prove yourself all over again…" the first voice apoke again, this time louder and more determined.

"Yeah, but…"

"I see him breathing! He's alive!" a fifth voice was heared, this one appearing even a bit shy. A gasp filled the atmosphere.

"Damn!" the voice called Mako pouted.

"I think he might be wounded." The shy voice stopped the others, sounding suddenly very close to him.

"So?"

"Rei, you're being heartless!"

"No! Just careful! Maybe Mako-chan's right!" the same angry voice said again.

"Finally!"

"No! No hurting! This is my territory and I get to decide!" the same curious voice spoke, this time more determined and stronger.

"Fine!" a choire formed of two voices onlyagreed.

"So… what are we going to do anyway?"

"I don't know… Maybe we should get him inside… in one of our rooms."

"Hmm, like the guardians will ever let us through, carrying a half-naked stranger who just popped out of nowhere straight into our garden!"

"Mina!"

"Sere, you know I'm right… unless…" the cheerful voice became thoughtful.

"Oho, the Goddess of Love is thinking… this is bad." A muffled voice mumbled.

"Hey, watch it! I'm still your leader and I can still beat all of you… even Makoto!" the cheerful voice turned angrily to the others.

"Alright, alright! Enough already! So, what do you think we should do, Mina?"

"Hmm, I'll need your help to pull this off. Sere come with me!" the voice ended fastly and steps were heared running away from the place in thenext moment.

"Are you two sure I can't wake him up?" Mako asked again, a bit bored, with a glint of hope in her voice.

"You heared Sere…" the angry voice, said a bit disappointed.

"Guys!" the shy one called to the others as soon as she heared the groan coming from the half-naked stranger and saw him moving his head a bit.

* * *

You'll probably ask why I haven't written also the part where Endy actually becomes the bet's target and ends up on the moon. Well, that's because I didn't feel like it and I thought it would be more fun to just see the consequences. I want reviews! 


	2. the man from Earth and four unusual jobs

Hellooooo, people! Here I am, once again, updating this fanfic. Thanks for your reviews and enjoy your reading.

I don't own Sailor Moon... but, hell, a girl can dream, can't she?

* * *

"What is it, Ami?"

"I think he's waking up…"

"Wha…?"

A groan stopped whatever Rei would have wanted to say. The three remaining girls stared down at the half-naked young man, one blushing like mad, the other adopting an angry look on her face and the third cracking her knuckles. The young man opened his eyes and passed a hand through his hair, groaning once again. His back hurt from sleeping for so long on something cold and rough. He slowly opened his dark blue eyes, getting used to the light surrounding him. He stood on one arm and planned to get up…. However,the totally unknown landscape and three at least unusual and strange girls stopped him from doing so.

In complete silence, with a very flushed look on his face, his eyes travelled on each one of them, trying to understand if he was supposed to know them or if they were supposed to be there and then.

He noticed that the one standing closest to him had a worried look imprinted on her chil-like features. Her big blue eyes revealed her innocence and her pale skin a certain sensibility. Unlike her, the othert two girls standing several steps away, seemed much stronger and even older. One of them had impossibly long and black hair, her bangs partly hiding a pair of burning amethyst eyes and her entire appearance seeming rather exotic. The other one was much taller, with even a boyish constitution, but clear features which revealed her feminity. She had brown hair held in a high ponytail and sparkling green eyes, which stared at him with a bored or disappointed look.

"Um… who are you?" Endymion asked dumbly, not realising yet that he didn't have any kind of shirt on. Instantly the blue-haired girl looked away, blushing madly, the raven-haired beauty glared at him, while the amazonian girl chuckled out loud.

"I believe the right question here would be, who are you!" the angry brunette pointed a finger at him.

"Milady, forgive me, but I believe you are making one huge mistake." He stated, staring right into her eyes and getting up. "What are you three ladies doing in my gardens?" he asked while he looked around and noticed all the red roses which surrounded them… identycal to those in his royal gardens. In response, the brunette threw daggers at him, while the tallest girl stared at him as if he had grown a second head and then burst out laughing, not giggling anymore. "I'm sorry, have I said something unappropriate?"

"Well, you could say that!" the amazon said between two breaths of air. "For start, you might want check out your whereabouts… and to excuse yourself for not presenting yourself to us in a more… common way." She explained and giggled some more, this time accompanied by the blue-haired girl. Staring down at himself, the man turned bright red and attempted to search for his shirt. The search soon enough proved itself prizeless and he gave up.

"Alright, you must excuse my lack of respect… but these are still my gardens… and I still demand to know what you three are doing here!"

"I beg your pardon?" the black-haired girl burst out loud, forcing the tall one to extend a strong arm in front of her and stop her from doing anything deadly. "Your gardens!"

"They were mine and my family's the last time I checked!"

"You have nerve, sir!" she bit every word and he took few steps behind.

"Oi! We're back!" the cheerful voice filled the atmosphere and, from behind a large green bush, two blondes appeared. The young man stared dumbly at them, noticing that they held almost identycal features: long blonde hair, clear blue eyes… not to mention two bodies to die for.

"Ahem, before starting to drool down here, you might want to get changed!" one of them sent him a dirty glare and pushed some sort of uniform at him. Receiving the clothes, he studied them closely and then looked at them once again, with a very confused look on his handsome face.

"Where am I? Isn't this the Golden Kingdom of Earth?" he asked, staring at each and every one of them. Suddenly, the girl stared back at him, with their jaws dropped.

"Earth!" they asked in unison.

* * *

"What? I have to pass as a cook!" Nephrite's voice filled the entire council room, forcing three pairs of eyes to stare back at him.

"Could you repeat that please? I doubt the queen has heard you yet!" Zoicite said sardonically, rolling his eyes.

"Guys, could we just calm down and get on with it?" Jadeite sighed and supported his head with his hands, elbows propped on the table.

"For once I agree with him. In order to get Endymion back and fast, we need to work together. And, yes, Nephrite, that means that we have to go along with the papers that I got us." Kunzite spoke as he tried almost desperately to keep himself calm down. The last thing he needed rightnow was to blow up like others.

"Yeah… but a cook!"

"Look, I'm supposed to be a monk! I highly doubt that cooking is worse than abstinence!" Jadeite complained, almost with tears in his eyes.

"Priest, Jade, priest! Zoicite nearly shouted.

"What's the difference!" the short-haired blonde. Noticing the sudden silence, he turned around and saw all of them sweat dropping.

"Anyway, how are we going to be able to track him down?" the wavy-haired blonde asked, putting his librarian papers into his hidden pocket.

"Well, I made it look like we've ended up each from a different planet and it shouldn't be a problem… I _believe_!" Kunzite emphasized the last word, glaring a Nephrite, who resumed himself to just gazing darkly and not mumbling anymore. He just shrugged and the silver-haired man let out a relief sigh. "Alright, we will repeat the process that some of us have already got acquainted with the last time and hope that we'll end up in the same place as him. Now, until we actually leave, I'll need all of you to get familiar with your "home worlds". Now, Zoi, you got Mercury, Jed, Mars, Neph, Jupiter and I got Venus."

"Ooo, the planet of loooove!" Jadeite sent him the most meaningful gaze possible. In response, the blonde ended up running like hell from the room, trying to dodge Kunzite's boomerangs, some with grace and some with pain.

"Serves him right!" Zoicite mumbled, watching a fuming shitennou and another one laughing his ass off.

"Watch it! You're next!" the leader turned half to him and glared. The wavy-haired settled himself with simply rising his hands in surrender and shutting up.

"By the way! Kunz, what will you be?" Nephrite asked, after stopping laughing.

"A martial arts trainer." He spoke calmly and noticed three pairs of eyes glaring deadly at him.

"What!"

* * *

"As in the planet Earth?" one of the blondes stared at him, not believing her ears.

"Um… yeah!" he said, a bit embarrassed by the girls' reaction.

"Wow!" she could only state and then seemed to have fallen into her own thoughts.

"You're actually a citizen from the Golden Kingdom?" the blue-haired one asked with wide eyes.

"Um, yeah… But, actually…"

"How are men sown there?" the amazonian burst out suddenly, cutting him off and surprising the others with her daring question.

"Makoto!" three of them complained.

"Actually, she is right… the answer could prove itself quite an interesting and useful piece of information." Mina explained and looked at her friends. Everyone was sweat dropping. Not minding them, she gazed over at the young man. "Well?" In response he just pointed at his now full-dressed self. She just shrugged and looked at the other, leaving a pretty sad man back. "Happy?" she asked Makoto, who simply rose and lowered her shoulders, expecting something more than just… the former half-naked man. She had to admit that he could easily be classified as "hot"… but she personally liked taller guys, due to her own height.

"So, where am I anyway?" the man asked the five girls, trying very hard not to count the amazonian's reaction.

"You really have no idea, do you?"

"Not really."

"This is the Silver Alliance's capital. You're in the Moon Kingdom." The other blonde dropped the bomb.

"What!" he burst and seemed to start freaking out.

"Whoa, take it easy there!" the tallest girl shook him a bit, getting him back to reality.

"The spells actually worked?" he asked himself, not minding them anymore and staring into the void.

"What spells?" the strange blue-haired girl asked, finally making herself noticed.

"Last night I made a bet and together with some of my friends ended up reading some twisted spells from one of the old books in the library. Next thing I knew, I woke up here." He said and ended up staring into one of the blonde's eyes. He examined her carefully, studying her odd hair-style: she had impossibly long hair, clung into two ponytails, coming out from some kind of golden bundles made from the same "material", sat on top of her head, on each side of it. "Odango Atama..."

"What?" she asked puzzled, noticing his burning gaze upon her.

"Your hair… it looks like one of our traditional meals. They look like the odangos made of wild rice. They're some kind of meatballs… only made of rice and with a special sauce on them.

"Let me see if I got this right… You consider my hair-style similar to some kind of food?" she asked with her eyes almost ready to pop out of her head.

"Um… maybe…" he tried to defend himself and stepped back.

"Hmm, my mother was right! You earthlings are the most barbaric nation I have ever seen. Hm, odango atama!" she said angrily and turned around, almost running away from them.

"Sere!" the black-haired girl shouted after her, sighed when she didn't get a response and then glared at the young man. "Why you, how could you possibly tease her hair? Do you have any idea how a woman feels, any woman, when she is being teased about her hair? Idiot! You will come and apologize… Now!"

"Rei, take is easy!"

"I would, but somehow, I lost that control some time ago!" she said, trying to calm down, but clearly with no luck.

"By the way, what's your name?" the remaining blonde turned to him.

"My what?"

"Your name! You know, so that we could call you something, not necessarily "half-naked" guy!" the brown-haired teased him.

"Right! Sorry!" he laughed dumbly. "I'm… Darien!" he said, after a short hesitation that none of the girls lost, but seemed to currently ignore.

"Ok, Darien!" the blonde winked at him. "These are the mighty Makoto of Jupiter, the angry Rei from Mars, the brilliant Ami of Mercury and, yours truly, Mina from Venus!" she cheerfully pointed to each girl and then to herself. Darien seemed somewhat surprised by her reaction, but he was glad that at least one of them w as taking a liking into him. He smiled politely and bowed to each of them.

"And odango atama would be…?"

"Serenity… and she's actually a lunarian. But you really shouldn't call her that anymore… it won't be good for your health… especially if you want us to help you get home." Mina smiled sweetly, this time not doing some other unexpected gesture. Then, suddenly, a noise was heard coming back from where Serenity had ran to few minutes before. She appeared from behind a rose bush, with her cheeks red from the effort and breathing hardly.

"Sere… you ok?"

"Yeah… for now!" she answered to Ami.

"What happened?"

"We need to hide him… Now!" she shouted, when she saw that no one was doing something. "I was going to my room when I saw Haruka coming… apparently she rescheduled her visit… and she's here now! If she finds us here, with him, she'll have a fit and I'll be grounded until the day I die!" she complained and already moved towards the man, pushing him back into the garden, followed by the rest of the group too.

* * *

Ok, done with this chappie too. Now, if you want longer chapters you only have to ask for it, by clicking the submit button below and share your thoughts considering what I've written so far. Oh, sorry if I didn't describe the odangos well enough, but that's what I remembered from the series. Also thanks to:

**illenutza**

**Elara**

**Dyra**

**serena221**

This is about it, I hope you liked the new chapter as well and see'ya'll next time (probably tomorrow or Saturday I'll update….no promises though….)


	3. a full day and four new arrivals

Hey people, I had time to write something dow, so I did. It's not much though… but I promise to write more during the week-end or next week, the latest. Thanks for your reviews and hope you'll like this chappie as well.

I don't own Sailor Moon… I can dream though…

* * *

"Ouch!"

"Jed, think you could move your foot from my back?"

"Do you have any idea how much this, this thing itches?"

"Where the hell are we?"

"I believe it is a rose bush."

"Oh, crap!"

"Jed, stop complaining."

"All of you, shut up!" one final and decided order made complete silence. A moment later, from the incredibly large bush, four men came out, each one dressed at least unusual.

"Whoa…" Zoicite's voice drifted off, as he met the sight of the palace probably few kiloemters away.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"We sent Endymion on another planet?" Jadeite asked, while scratching his back like mad and barely managing to make sense of his new outfit.

"Not just another planet… the moon." Nephrite spoke as he checked some kind of device which could easily determine their position within the solar system.

"So, your hunch was right." Zoi told Kunzite, who barely nodded, while scanning their surroundings. "Now what?"

"Well, if I were a prince of a planet and suddenly found myself in a place I've never seen before… I'd get help from the authorities." Nephrite said from behind, while clutching spikes out of Jadeite's flesh and clothes. "There, all done!"

"Man, when we're done with this, I'm never, ever getting dressed in such clothes… How can you all actually wear those… things?"

"With a lot of pain and suffering." Zoicite said as he inspected his friend's outfit, making sure that he wore it properly. "Now remember: no swearing, flirting or checking out women!"

"Ah, man!" he whined.

"Jed, stop whining." Kunzite ordered coldly.

"Aw, don't worry Jed! I've heard lunarians or women from other planets aren't that beautiful to look at anyway." Nephrite teased him and ducked successfully a punch.

"If you're done here, we could go towards the palace and take our places. With a bit of luck, in a couple of days we'll find him and go home." The silver-haired general announced.

"A couple of days?" the other three exclaimed in the same moment. The leader simply turned to them and glared icily. "Ok!" they grinned, scared of his possible reaction, and stepped back a whole meter. Turning away, he started crossing the huge garden, towards the incredible palace, rising on the other side.

* * *

Endymion had woken up in the morning in a completely foreign kingdom, surrounded by five beautiful, yet extremely strange girls. They were very different and yet, they managed to form a very close group. They were fighting each day, from what he had heard, but always went to bed only after getting back together. He had to give them all the points in the world for managing to stay united for so long. Their personalities were different enough to start even world wars and he had the priviledge of knowing a bit of each and every one of them during that unique day. Now it was near sunset and he stood in one in one of their rooms, silent, looking at the unusual chamber, waiting for them to complete their duties and return to him with also a promised tray of food.

Step by step, he analized his whole day and the characters who filled it. Firstly, it was the rather dark-haired trio: a tall girl who he considered to belong to some kind of amazonian tribe, a black-haired one with the most unusual amethyst eyes and real temper problems and a blue-haired girl with a never-ending shyness, but an extraordinary level of intelligence. Then, there were the two blondes, who could pass for twins easily. The only diferrence stood in their hair-styles and personalities. The lunarian seemed more child-like and rather a klutz, while the venusian carried a weird and determined sparkle in her eyes… and an incredible way of asking questions… and what questions!

Sighing out loud, he remembered everything he had to stand, so that a certain female person named Haruka wouldn't find him. He had once caught a glimpse of her and wondered if she really was a woman. She was as tall as him, if not even taller, with short dirty blonde hair and deadly teal eyes. She was wearing some kind of uniform… which hid all her feminine body features… considering she had any. Indeed, he had found her scary and gladly accepted all the help he could get. Everything calmed down suddenly, sometimes in the evening, when another young woman with wavy light blue hair, reminding him somewhat of Ami's, and dark blue eyes showed up. She was much more calm than the mighty Haruka and her simple presence seemed to hold the blonde back from any violent reactions. Later, he found out that the two were involved in some kind of romantic relationship and that this was the only explanation that could be found for Haruka's glances and the way Michiru smiled back at her.

And here he was, waiting for the "odango atama" he had just met that morning, in her room, hiding from the deadly looking woman and, currently, suffering from hunger. A soft knock in the door woke him up from his day-dreaming and made him run behind the thick curtains hiding the windows.

"Darien?" he heard a whisper and only showed half of his head from his location.

"Serenity?" he asked and noticed the sound of closing and locking doors.

"You can come out now." Her voice spoke normally and he followed her direction.

"Thanks for the food." He said as he took the tray from her hands and took a seat in an armchair, right across from the bed. He settled the tray on his lap and proceeded in eating, while she sat on the bed quietly and started glancing around the room, sometimes even at him.

"Wow, you're really good with those…" she couldn't help but notice his skillful hands playing with the fork and knife over the dinner.

"Kind of… Let's just say that I was forced to learn and respect every little custom…" he mumbled between chewing and swallowing the food. The truth was that he could have eaten much nicer, but he was hungry.

"Ok… Look, you're going to be sleeping here and I'll sneak out to Mina's room…" she stated, blushing lightly. He simply looked up at her, staring at her beautiful features.

"You don't have to do that! It wouldn't be fair of me neglecting a young woman's beauty sleep. I could simply take this armchair or even the floor…"

"No! You don't have to do that!" she cut him off, establishing eye-contact without necessarily wanting it.

"But I insist." He said and gazed right into her blues eyes, also bowing his head a bit. She finally smiled lightly and nodded her head.

"Alright then…"

* * *

"Alright, now how do we get in?" a wavy-haired man asked another blonde one, while staring at the huge walls, beautifully decorated with strange and old carvings.

"Knock on the door and politely ask for a roof above our heads for the night?" Jadeite simply answered and received a glare.

"Yeah, real genius!" Nephrite teased him.

"What is this? Pick onJadeite> day?" the short-haired man asked loudly, wanting to kick Nephrite at least once… however, his clothes soon got in the way and he fell ungraciously on the ground, causing an explosion of laughter from the other two.

"Oi! Where have you four been?" a man with long silver, almost white hair and funny ears, almost cat-like, showed up near them, with a pretty angry look on his face. The four men simply backed away a bit. "Well?" he asked further and Nephrite, along with the two blonde simply shoved Kunzite a few steps in front of them. After all, he was their leader.

"Forgive us for our delay… we have been inspecting the gardens…" Kunzite said, as he adopted a rather cautious look, as if he was walking on broken glass, "carefully." He added and maintained eye-contact with the stranger, who, judging by his clothes, was definitely someone important inside the palace and he could grant them access. After a few moments of gazing at each one of the men, the stranger nodded his head slighlty and signaled them to get inside. Obediently, they followed him, Zoicite placing the fake glasses on his nose, Jadeite adopting the most modest look he could and, in the end, walking with his head down and Nicholas simply squeezing his hands into fists and biting his tongue so that he wouldn't end up blowing up their cover. Kunzite walked with the pride and determination of a martial arts trainer, so he didn't have to worry… unlike the others. Theystepped through a back entry and ended up somewhere towards the main halls. Still, the stranger stopped in the middle of a larger room and pointed a hallway to them.

"Your rooms are that way: you should recognize them by the designated colours of your planets. Next thing in the morning you will each go to your given places and carry on with your jobs. My name is Artemis, I am one of Queen Serenity's advisors and I will guide through your chorus… so if you need any directions, you will come to me… and no one else." He spoke icily, throwing daggers, especially to Kunzite. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" the four answered, as if they had been been true militaries and not a librarian, a priest, a cook and a trainer. Artemis looked at them strangely, but didn't say anything. Still, he approached Kunzite, who wasn't even blinking and kept a very cool appearance, and asked on the coldest tone possible. "Have I seen you before?"

"I highly doubt it, Sir."

"Hmm, that's just the problem… I'll be watching you… closely!" he warned and turned around, leaving the room. After the was gone, even Kunzite couldn't help but exhaled out loudly.

"That was close!"

"Too close!"

"Now what?"

"Now we play our parts… and hope to survive the human-sized tomcat…" the leader said, already walking towards their rooms. By the end of the day, they were all settled in, knowing their schedules and ready for action at any time.

* * *

I know, I know, too small! Sorry, I'll try to make it up to you, but I really had to write this part in order to fill in some hours.

Now, please don't flame me anymore with the grammar and spelling mistakes. I'm aware of them and I must explain that English isn't my first language… so have some mercy here.

Also, I don't want people to understand that I can't stand Haruka and that I've described her in a bad manner… Big Haruka fan here, so, don't worry… I'm just planning some future scene involving her and I had to make her a bit spooky, but it's a good thing, trust me! In the end, I only have one, wait, two requests: read and review. Thank you for your time.


	4. one crazy morning and four new people

Hey people! Well, I was in the mood for writing so I wrote... and I wrote... and I wrote some more... and now my finger hurt. So, please enjoy. And don't forget to also review at the end... please!

* * *

Serenity woke up in the morning, much earlier than she was used to. Usually, her friends would have to pull her out of the bed with screams and cold water. Still, now she was fully-awakened, laying in her bed and gazing at the ceiling above. She was thinking at the handsome young man whom she and her friends had just found the other day, half-naked in the middle of their precious garden… their most secret spot. Serenity felt somewhat betrayed, because he knew that place, but he wasn't from anywhere around and he was also a true gentleman. He had almost made her sleep in the bed, while he satisfied himself with the large armchair across the room and a fluffy pillow as companion. Also, he had accepted being pushed through so many hallways the other day, when they were hiding him from Haruka. She glanced at the clock and noticed that it was half past eight… she felt that she was supposed to be somewhere at that time. Standing up in the bed, she glanced with widened eyes at the man sleeping few meters away from her. He was so cute with the dark bangs falling on his face… adorable… just like a boy… She allowed herself to smile sweetly, but a bang in her door cut her off pretty fast. She turned to the door, just in time to hear a voice she knew all too well.

"Serenity! Sere, are you up?"

"Haruka!" she whispered and shoved the covers away, running to the armchair holding the man. She shook him desperate, in attempt to wake him up… but she had absolutely no result. She exhaled loudly and her eyes widened, ready to pop out of her eyes, noticing that he wasn't about to wake up soon. Damn Mina and all her exhausting questions. Meanwhile…

"Serenity, are you up or do I have to throw another bucket of cold water on you?" the woman on the other side asked, already smiling at the memory of what had happened the last time she had done that.

"Damn it! Why is this happening to me?" she questioned herself while shaking further the unmoved young man. "Gods, if she finds him here, it'll be the end of me… I know… I'll have to pass as if I'm not in the room… it's not like she has the keys or something…" she mumbled, while trying to calm down her pulse. She had barely managed to do that when, suddenly, another voice down the hall made her pay attention. "Luna!" she said out loud, but not enough to be heard from the other side of the door. She started running like mad through the room, while hearing the sound of moving keys… Damn that cat and her need of security.

She stopped a moment later, in the middle of the room, knowing that it would take even Luna several second to find the key. Without thinking, she simply pulled Darien's feet from one side of the armchair and took his whole body from the armchair, with the clear intention of crawling him to her bed and hide him under it. However, when she pulled, he fell entirely on the floor and banged his head lightly on it.

"Ouch! What are you doing, woman?" he said too loud and received a hit in the next moment.

"Sere?" Haruka's voice now became worried and Luna declared victory when she found the necessary key. Inside the room, Serenity gesture frantically to the door and signaled him to keep quiet. Nodding his head, he got up silently and started walking through the room, while the unlocking sound was already heard. He then simply ran and disappeared through the curtains, not letting Serenity understand what he was doing. She lost sight of him just in time to throw herself in the bed, hide under the covers and pretend to be asleep.

"Aw, isn't she adorable?" she could hear Luna's caring voice inside the room, but didn't even move.

"Hmm." Haruka's simple reply came as she walked through the room, with determined steps, and appeared to be checking something.

"Serenity, dear… It's time to wake up!"

"Five more minute, mom!" she whined and managed to trick the two women. She opened only one eye and saw Haruka going straight to the curtains and passing through them.

"Cousin!" she said happily as she appeared to look barely awakened. Still, Haruka didn't stop and got out on the balcony, eyeing every detail and searching for anything unusual. That made Serenity skip a heartbeat. She only calmed down when she saw the other blonde entering again, with a somewhat relieved look on her face.

"Good, you're up… That forces me to skip a lot of embarrassing rituals…

"Haruka!" she whined and thanked God that she had the giftof acting.

"Well, now that you're up, come on, get dressed and then join me outside. It's a beautiful day and I want to go out riding. How about it, cousin?" Haruka stretched her tall body and winked at the younger blonde. Serenity gazed at her with an evil look.

"Why doesn't Michiru go with you?" she asked and watched her cousin's eyes narrow and suddenly become disappointed.

"She's still a bit upset at me for coming down here faster… You see, we were supposed to remain on Uranus one more week… but I wanted to come here faster… And she didn't… And that's why we came separate along the way…" her voice drifted off and she exhaled loudly.

"Oh, ok! I'll come with you. Just wait for me to get dressed." Serenity smiled, not wanting to make Haruka feel worse than already was, because she knew what chain of events that could cause. Gazing one last time around the room, Haruka nodded and then exited with forced steps. Behind remained Luna, who hadkeptsilence during the two blonde's dialogue. The moon princess' attention went to her and her friend's nanny, a woman not so tall, with still young and beautiful features, pale skin, extremely long wavy hair, with a couple of buns similar to hers on her head, but much more numerous, and a yellow dress which complimented her slender body perfectly. The woman turned to Serenity with a puzzled smile on her face and her blue eyes stared at her princess. Luna wasn't just her nanny, but a royal advisor as well. She and her dear husband Artemis belonged to a different species, carrying weird cat-like ears on each side of their head, and were taking care of the five princesses and the rest of the palace for that matter. The Queen trusted them with her life and they always lived up to their expectations so much, that sometimes Serenity and her friends considered the two their true parents… and loved them as much. Still, Luna seemed closer to Serenity, like Artemis watched for Mina more than for anyone else.

"Come on, you!" Luna said after few moment of complete silence. "Don't let Haruka waiting too long." She hurried Sere out of the warm bed. Grumbling, the princess got up and suddenly stopped, remembering her clandestine visitor.

"You know what, Luna? I'll just get dressed myself and you can return to your duties." The elder woman turned to her as if she had grown another head.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah… I mean, you know that you always say that I have to grow up once… and I decided to start today!" she said merely and smiling widely, scaring Luna even more.

"Serenity…"

"No, I don't want to hear about it! I don't want to keep you away from much more important duties. Don't worry!" the princess hurried her out of the room, not letting her say another word. She closed the door firmly after her nanny's departure and hurried outside, on the balcony. "Darien?" she asked, more in a whisper, making sure that no one else would hear. "Darien!" she asked louder and suddenly got scared. She approached the edge and looked down in the garden. No, no blood or fallen body. But what if he had fallen and Haruka had found him? She whimpered in fear and ran back inside, washing and getting dressed as fast as she could.

* * *

Endymion had noticed the voices speaking inside the room, as well as the blonde's determined steps. Gods, she was loud… which could only mean one thing: she was angry and about to do some damage…

He found himself standing on Serenity's balcony, looking down from the edge. Nope, he couldn't jump. The balcony was much too high and he would definitely end up either with something broken or even dead. No, he didn't like his options. He looked above him and saw that the door had a thicker edge than normal. It was pretty high, but he believed that he could reach it. So he carefully climbed the balcony's door, showing a lot of skill at this activity. Once found himself high above, he saw yet another thing that could help him to escape unharmed the blonde's wrath. It was some kind of support for flags or maybe decorations during celebrations. Whatever it was, it was pretty long and looked like it could hold him. He leaned even higher, managing to grab it. One hand, than the other, and he found himself several meters above the balcony, near the balcony above, belonging to a room exactly above Serenity's. He had no idea to whom that room belonged to… but he had no other choice. Jumping in the air, he managed to get a hold of the upper balcony's edge. His arms were already sore and he swore never to repeat the experiment again in his entire life. Carefully, not to fall, he rose himself and managed to jump inside the balcony. Ending on steady ground again,he exhaled in relief. He looked below and saw the mighty woman searching, most probably for him. He sighed, this time quietly and got back. Turning to the entrance, he saw that the door was opened. Lucky him.

Endymionentered as silently as he could and took a peek around the room: it was almost completely green, but the furniture was a reddish brown, creating a strong contrast. It almost felt as if he was in the middle of a forest, because in the air therehad a somewhat refreshing flavour. He liked it, considering the numerous woods his planet had.

"Ahem!" a voice was heard behind him. He turned around instantly and met the angry gaze of the Amazonian girl: Makoto.

"Should I get that this is your room?" he winced.

"How observant of you! What are you doing here and how did you get here?" she glared at him. And then he noticed: she had just ended her shower. Her long brown hairwas let down and still wet, while her tall body was hidden inside a fluffy robe. Her face looked flushed, which meant that it had been a rather hot shower. Embarrassed, he stepped backwards.

"Forgive me, I had no idea that this was your room! I just ended up here because that woman, Haruka, had come inside Serenity's room and I had to hide!" She gave him a curious look and then her features turned softer.

"Serenity? Didn't she sleep in Mina's room?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Um, not exactly… You see, I took the armchair…" he explained, already noticing the fire inside those incredibly green eyes. In a moment, she grabbed his shirt's collar and pulled him closer to her face, while she growled, instead of normally talking.

"If you do anything, and when I say anything I mean anything, to Sere, you can consider yourself dead! Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" he saluted and found himself relieved. She looked away and pointed at the door.

"Now get the hell out of here before I do some permanent damage for interrupting my shower." He bowed and disappeared from the room, closing the door noiseless. God, she could be even scarier than Haruka when she was angry… Still, he couldn't judge her for keeping an opened eye for her friend and watching over her. He had already noticed that the all the girls behaved more carefully with Serenity and that she seemed somewhat under their protection… as if they were her guards. Still, they treated each other almost in the same way and he had heard not just once about Serenity protecting her friends. Something was weird here: they all had rooms in the royalty wing, they weren't servants, but none of them had said anything about having blue blood. Endymion thought of that closely and decided to ask the girls later.

* * *

When Zoicite woke up, it was barely sunrise. He got out of his bed, got dressed and ready to fill his place. Still, he went to check up on the others before actually getting to work. As usual, Kunzite was already gone, probably awake for several hours, Nephrite was shaving and making fun of Jadeite's costume and his part, while Jed tried helplessly to put on the impossible robe. At the sight of him, the wavy-haired blonde sweat dropped, thinking that maybe Kunzite had been too harsh on him when he had given him the monk/priest part.

About twenty minutes later, he managed to leave their quarters and go to his designated job, but only after convincing Nephrite to stop with the teasing at least for a while and managing to help Jadeite get in his costume, a task which was almost impossible, given the blonde's temper and grumpiness level at that early time of the day.

So there he was, walking on the rich hallways of the moon palace, going to the library, where he was supposed to fill in the place of one of his "friends", whowas sick for the time being. He didn't mind his job, especially because he knew he'd have peace and quiet, maybe even time to get a peak into the lunarian books as well. He had heard that here could be found even some mercurian training manuals. He couldn't wait to find those, because he considered the mercurians an entire nation of geniuses, capable of almost any kind of technology. But what he liked mostly about them was that they didn't use their high level of intelligence and technology for weapons, but medical equipments and all kinds of machines only for peaceful reasons. He respected them for that.

Sighing one last time, he entered into the library, expecting it to be empty at that time of day. He knew what to do: clean the tables, set the books from the previous day on the bookshelves, get ready for the ones thirsty of knowledge and give them correct details and guidance through their researches. Not so bad. Still, when he entered the main reading room, he noticed that, at the window table stood a person, most probably asleep, over an opened book. He approached the chair and noticed that the person was a young girl, with short dark blue hair and a rather petite form. She wore glasses and her eyes were currently closed behind them. She had a completely blue outfit, made by some sort of dress and her head was leaned over her arms, on the table, right above the book. Behind her, through the large window, it could be seen the sun rising even higher. Its rays were drowning the room and especially the place where the girl was silently sleeping. He gazed at her, entrapped by the light surrounding her and charmed by her child-like features. He knew that moment that he had never seen a more beautiful creature in his entire life. He got the courage and, one minute later, he came next to her, examining her asleep body and the book below: "Treaty over the main laws of physics." He rose an eyebrow and gazed again at her, considering her a bit too young for such a hard paper, but, then again, he had only been eighteen when he had read the same book. Carefully not to wake her up, he snuck a hand over to her and managed to take her glasses off. He knew that it could be dangerous sleeping with them on and he really didn't want that amazing girl to be harmed in any way.

He stepped back, already off to his duties, but stopped dead in track when he heard her moan lightly. He turned around again and saw her opening her eyes: big, kind and innocent blue eyes. He was on the verge of falling on his knees when she glanced at him puzzled. Her pale skin and unusual hair colour were contrasting strongly, making her seem some sort of water nymph, some fairy escaped from the world oflegends and myths… and those eyes could make even a demon to fall down and cry. He turned to her with wide eyes and stared at her mutely.

"Who are you?" she asked, still sleepy, sending him a confused glance.

"Um… yeah, me!" he mumbled, gazing at her, not managing to control his tongue properly. God he must look like an idiot! He shook his head, making some wavy strands to fall in his face. "Um, forgive me, milady, I am the new librarian. My colleague got… um, sick! And they sent me to replace him for a while." He explained, desperately trying to get a hold of himself, but failing miserably.

"Alright, welcome aboard!" she got up, leaned a fine hand to him and smiled brightly. Closing him mouth fastly, he took her hand and, instead of shaking it, as she would have expected it, he leaned over and kissed it gently. That made the girl blush until the tip of her ears. He kept her hand a while after kissing it, admiring the simple beauty of it and enjoying the cool effect it had on his warm one, inside which his blood was boiling. Noticing her crimson blush, he let go of it, pretty disappointed.

"Thank you, milady!" he bowed.

"Actually, you may call me Ami… "Milady" sounds so old and… cold." She said after a slight hesitation.

"Alright, Ami!" he said and smiled sincerely.

"And you?" she asked curiously.

"Um, excuse me?"

"Your name!"

"Oh, yes, correct… Zander!" he managed to say out in the open, that moment wanting to kick himself for sounding like an idiot. He was supposed to be a librarian and he was a general. How could a girl he had just met make him sound like a ditz and forcehis knees to tremble so?

"Alright Zander…" she just said and smiled once again, making him almost drunk with her sight. God, he loved his job!

* * *

Jadeite woke up with a very bad feeling considering this particular day. And it proved itself to be a very bad day to begin with. Firstly, he had to put up with another round of Nephrite's infinite teasing, then he tripped a thousand times in his costume and then he had to ask Zoicite to help him get dressed. He didn't need to ask for such a thing ever since he turned three and could reach the shelves carrying his clothes inside.

And now, he was either looking for Kunzite, who had left as usual at some impossible hour in the morning and wasn't heard of ever since, or the temple he was working it, which was known to be somewhere in the huge yard around the palace…of course, known by anyone but him. God, he hated his job already… he hated his clothes… he hated his life.

With a grumpy face he exited the palace and started looking around, searching for any kind of building that could look in any way as a temple. The search proved itself rather spectacular, for he ended numerous times in private areas and even a lake. And then, about ten minutes after his last collision, he found what he was looking for: a beautiful building, made only of wood, with beautiful carvings on it, and which appeared to be at least fifteen and twenty meters high. That made Jadeite have his doubts about this job… but then again, he had been the first to completely hate his given assignment. He was sure that Zoi and Kunz would probably have the times of their lifes, while he was stuck with praying to some unknown god and Nephrite was forced to cook… which only meant that they would probably not even have to escape the place, given that the auburn-haired man was about to poison them all, either deliberately or not.

He stopped right in front of the entrance and stared at the huge closed door. He gulped before entering, he took a deep breath and he opened one of the doors, entering the building. He hadn't even manage to take two steps, for a feminine voice bellowed in the entire space and made the walls shudder under the power of her voice.

"You're late!" Jadeite turned mechanically and met the furious dark gaze of a young girl, maybe about eighteen or so; if it hadn't been for her tremendous voice and anger, she could have been the most beautiful and charming woman in the world. The short-haired man stared dumbly at her, not managing to find his voice. "Well?" she asked, visibly annoyed with the fact that he was late. Apparently she didn't care that much about her appearance and the title of "the most beautiful woman in the world" didn't mean much for her.

"Forgive me, milady, I was not able to find the temple fast enough. I am just new here and I can assure you that this situation won't repeat itself." Jadeite spoke as calm as he could, although his blood was boiling, and he bowed respectfully. He could tell that she was completely surprised and lost her guard in front of his calm and conceited tone. She blinked and pointed to the temple's interior, saying much more calmly.

"Very well, then! Make sure this won't occur tomorrow as well. Today you're forgiven. Go to the back room. There you'll find Yuuichiro (AN: or what his name is). He will tell you what you have to do today." She said and disappeared, inside the main room. She seemed rather flushed and embarrassed of her demonstration. He now praised himself for managing to keep it calm. Hmm, maybe he would be able ofpour his entire angerout on the Yuuichiro guy… that in case he wasn't some kind of huge dude with a temper to match the beautiful priestess'. He stared at her trace a while, remembering already the amethyst eyes which simply threw burning flames at anyone within five meters and the incredibly long black hair that surrounded her perfect body like a protecting cloak. Although he couldn't only guess what was hiding behind her large traditional outfit, he knew that she must have all the curves in all the right places… That thought almost made him drool. He stopped himself from doing some embarrassing act and walked to where she had previously pointed, making a mental note to kill Nephrite when he got back, for saying that women from other planets weren't that beautiful. They were absolutely gorgeous.

* * *

Nephrite had started his day a bit better than the others… or so he believed. As usual, he greeted Kunzite when he left, probably around 5 or 6 a.m., praising himself that he had managed to see the silver-haired general right before leaving, and then he proceeded with the usual morning tasks: get washed, shaved, dressed and, of course, Jadeite angry. He knew that the short-haired man wasn't exactly doing great, but then again, none of them were. When he finished everything, he took one last glance of himself in the full-size mirror from his chamber and then left the room, with a smile on his face. Still, when he started walking towards the royal kitchens, the perfect smile transformed into a sad scowl. This definitely wasn't his day, week, month, year… call it whatever you want.

He entered the kitchen, which was one huge hall, filled with all sorts of equipment and servants. He remained shocked of how that kitchen could look like: absolutely clean, with everything in its rightful place and with a clear order. Nephrite's mouth fell open when he saw all the servants and cooks, waiting for everybody to round up and to listen to the queen's requests for that day. There were many people there, all rounded up exactly in the middle of the room, appearing to be listening and watching someone who stood right in the middle.

Curious, Nephrite came closer and started listening: some words he could clearly understand, others he couldn't get at all. Still, he was able to tell that it was a menu… that day's menu. He started entering the large group, passing through and making any necessary excuses. When he reached closer to the voice he look at the others and saw right in the middle of them a tall girl, much taller then those had been accustomed to, with long brown hair, trapped in a tall ponytail, which he could tell that it had just been dried, and dressed in a dark green outfit with a pink apron on it. She spoke to the people standing on the other side of him, not even noticing his appearance.

"Nee, Makoto-san, what desert did Her Majesty said she wanted today?" an older woman with a large spoon in her right hand and who happened to be right next to him asked. The one in the middle turned away from the others and Nephrite could finally see her… entirely. He remained shocked: her body, as tall as it was, had all the curves in the right places, especially the chest. The green clothes she wore made her seem a big larger than she really was, but he could tell that she was just a bit more muscular than any other normal woman would have been. His eyes traveled all around her body, until they reached her face. Then he remained unmoved: her cheeks were covered in a slight pink color, her smile was absolutely charming and her dark green eyes held a sparkle he had never seen in a woman… any woman. After answering the old lady, she gazed up at him and their eyes got trapped into each other. His blue orbs were so focused inside her green ones, that he didn't even hear her question.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, while leaning a bit and looking away from eyes, so that he would be sure to understand her words. She chuckled a bit and repeated, as if she were mocking him.

"I asked you if you were new here."

"Oh, yes, milady, I am!" he stated and got trapped into her orbs, once again falling hopeless from reality.

"Oh, you can call Makoto… just like the others." She smiled and pointed at all those who were surrounding her. He barely nodded. "And you would be?" she turned to him again.

"Nathan… Makoto-san." He answered, seeming a bit cautious. She acknowledged it and moved away, making her ponytail swing at her back and entrap Nephrite's attention within its movements.

"So, about the desert… why don't we let our new cook right here make it?" she said and glanced back at him, with a somewhat amused look on her face and her eyes looking at him below her eyelids.

"Are implying that I wouldn't be able of performing that task?" he asked, keeping himself away from her eyes' magic this time.

"Well, I won't know that until I see that cake baked… right?" she asked daringly and a gasp was heard through the entire audience. She was officially daring him. He narrowed his eyes and looked down at her in almost disgust… who did she think she was? Yeah, maybe she did look like a goddess, but that gave her no right in mocking him… he was the king of mockery... and no one else.

"Hmm, I'll make you swallow that nasty tongue of yours!" he warned jokingly. She looked rather surprised by his words and even caught a slight blush. But then, her eyes turned dangerous.

"As if you'd ever know what my tongue can and can't do!" another group gasp was heard and it was his time to remain in shock. So she had personality and temper… good, he liked that in a woman.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see…" he ended the conversation and turned away from her, not even giving her another look. Immediately after that, everyone returned to their jobs and the entire room became once again filled with voices and movements. She was kind of hurt because he had not wanted to cast her another look, even glare, but she proudly left the room, with her forehead up and not even glancing back. What she didn't know, tough, was that, from his designated place he had watched her leaving, like a hungry man would watch some kind of cookie… a very sweet cookie.

* * *

It had been maybe three hours ever since he had left his room and he was still in the training area, meditating and waiting for his student. According to all rumors, Lady Mina, the princess of Venus, was a beautiful eighteen year old girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had skipped the whole crystal eyes and golden hair part and jumped directly to the real facts: she was beautiful, but unlike all other blondes, she wasn't quite a ditz and was thought even to be very considerate, with impeccable lady-like gestures and reactions. Still, apparently it was common knowledge that she was good at fighting as well. However, martial arts weren't all about fighting… and Kunzite was making sure that he would at least teach her a lesson or two before managing to escape. Not to mention that he was already considering killing the cat-like man, who had kept his promise and watched them all like a hawk… and especially Kunzite.

Suddenly, a faint noise behind him was heard and he got up from his place and turned around with an incredible speed… only to find nothing. He studied the surroundings silent and careful. He pulled out the wooden sword, which was supposed to stand for a real one and turned once again, stopping an attack in the last moment. He looked in front of him and saw a blonde girl, maybe around eighteen, with long hair, pulled in a simple bun. Her force was just enough to stop him from sending her few meters away with a simple swing of his "weapon".

"My, my… finally, a trainer who doesn't fall asleep and is really good for something!" she said, partly excited, partly disappointed. She withdrew the weapon and jumped further behind. He ran after her with an incredible speed, surprising her. She let out a small shout and ducked his repeated and unpredictable hits, managing to escape so far unharmed. She grabbed both his fists in her much smaller, yet capable hands, fell on the ground taking him with her and, supporting his body on one foot, she simply threw him on the other side, crashing him down on the ground. After a hit like that she was sure that he would give it up, no matter how much of a stone he wanted himself to appear like.

She had barely got up and looked over to see his fallen body, when two strongarms captured her body, forcing her hands at her back and keeping her steady. If the man who was doing that hadn't been as cold as ice, she'd love that position, no matter how uncompromising it would be like. He was fast and he was strong… and it was no way that he could be from Venus… and that made Mina wonder a lot of things… He let go and swirled body, forcing her to face him and his damn icy lavender eyes.

"Lesson one: never leave your guard down!" he practically ordered. "Not even when you believe your enemy to be dead!" he continued, somewhat enjoying the defeated look in her eyes and the dagger she threw him.

"Wow… my father finally found someone worth of his daughter… Tell me, how is it that he found you? I must admit that you are far better than all your predecessors." She said, testing him.

"Well, if that is the best you can… I'm not surprised." He mocked her coldly, and Mina could swear that she felt a sudden frozen wind. "I came here through a tournament… It was your father that started it particularly for the reason of training his daughter with the best of his kingdom." He spoke and bowed lightly. She frowned… so he knew all the tournament's details… but it was still no way in hell that he was a venusian… he was much too strong (and hot) for a venusian… any venusian. "Come, grasshopper! I will have to teach you many things!" he called down for her while he already walked back to the training area. She growled at the hearing of her name and she ran after him, planning to hit him with the fake sword. However, when she saw him trapping the weapon with his bare hands, her whole plans were instantly forgotten. Instead, he pulled the sword and trapped the princess into his arms, looking down at her, directly into her eyes. "It will pass some time until you will be able of actually harming me, grasshopper. So I would suggest getting started right away." She glared up at him, but he could understand that she agreed… although she was about to hate him for the rest of her life. He let her go and the last thing he thought at before starting the training was that she did have crystal blue eyes… a color that he had never seen before in his entire life…

* * *

So, what do you think? Review people, review! Oh, and thanks for those who already did that for my previous chapter!


	5. ten people during the lunch break

I do not own sailor moon. Sad, but true...

* * *

It was twelve o'clock and everyone was in their lunch "break", which consisted in a free hour for almost all the palace's servants, except the ones who served at the royal table. During this hour, most of them would sleep or have a bite to eat, while the Queen had her meal and maybe a short siesta afterwards. Everyone was away from their work… everyone but Nephrite, who thanked God for creating such a wonderful Moon Queen. 

The auburn-haired man was currently walking inside the palace like a lunatic, searching for the bloody library, which he couldn't find at all… and that was starting to annoy him greatly. He had searched almost half of palace… and that building wasn't small at all. Half an hour of his free time was already gone and neither his running speed nor his usual luck seemed to be of much help today. He knew he should've asked Zoi for his exact location before splitting up that morning.

Suddenly, inside the completely silent hallway, seeming almost deserted, were heard several gasps and even laughter. Curious, Nephrite got closer to the noise's source… and discovered that there were two sources, not one. Silently, walking on the tips of his toes, he approached an opened door and glanced inside, making sure that nobody would be able to catch a glimpse of him. What he saw made his mouth fall open and his eyes widen in surprise: there, in the middle of a pretty large hall filled with shelves and thousands of books, stood one of his closest friends, laughing and talking to a young girl, maybe not a day older than eighteen, although she seemed much younger than that.

Nephrite leaned to the door more and managed to see her: small, slender body, hidden by some sort of blue gown, with short blue (blue?) hair and very pale skin. If her eyes hadn't been so alive and carrying such a strange and vivid sparkle inside, he would have easily taken her for some natural-sized China doll. Her delicate skin, small figure and strange outfit made her seem so fragile, giving the impression that she could easily brake at the first touch… and, apparently, his friend was about to reach that step. Smirking evily, Nephrite stopped hiding and got out, surprising the two, the man more than the girl.

"Ahem!" he cleared his voice and entered the room with absolutely no restrain. At the sight of him, the girl suddenly paid attention to his presence, while the man borrowed a deadly glare in his eyes. Now was definitely not the right time.

"Nathan! What brings you here?" Zoicite sent him a frozen smile, which Nephrite returned in a sadistic way. Oh, how he loved teasing people… and now he had the perfect opportunity.

"Well, I was close by and I thought visiting my friend here… however, I wasn't aware of the fact that he hadcompany of his own." He stared at the girl, with a charming smile on his face. Passing right by the wavy-haired man, he approached the water nymph and, not even noticing Zoi anymore, he leaned to her and, grabbing her hand, placed a gentle kiss on it. "Milady!" he bowed and she ackowledged.

"Sir…"

"Well, well, and how come you have been holding this beautiful creature all this time, Zander?" the taller man said, his eyes still locked on the young beauty in front of him. "I hope you haven't kept her away from lunch, have you?"

"Actually Lady Ami…"

"Oh, forgive me, I have forgotten all about the lunch… My friends must be dead worried for me… forgive me!" the girl suddenly turned a bit scared, but proved once again a perfect self-controll over her words.

"Zander!" Nephrite complained on a faked voice, which would have seemed hilarious to everyone, but incredibly mocking only to his closest friends. Zoicite sent him a deadly glare and returned a bit sad to the girl who had picked up several books already.

"Milady, I must apologize for my…"

"Nonsense!" she cut him off pretty fast and her cheeks gained a sudden blush. "I mean, I have never met a person to know so much about cold fusion devices before… and I am really glad that we've had this conversation… also, thank you for the advice you gave me considering the anti-heating systems, I'll be sure to follow them." She spoke quit hurried and smiled sweetly, not even looking at Nephrite anymore: her eyes were locked on the misterious stranger who, although was clearly not from Mercury, as he sustained, possesed a vast knwoledge in pretty much any domain. She found that quit amazing for someone who is supposignly a simple librarian. "Milord!" she ended and bowed. Before she knew it, her hand was once again trapped in his and her eyes were accepting his emerald gaze. One long and painful moment later he let go and bowed as well. She mumbled a "goodbye" to the other man and exited almost running.

Behind, Zoicite couldn't help but exhaled loudly, while Nephrite looked at him rather amused. Then, finally noticing that he wasn't alone in the room, the wavy-haired turned to his friend and glared once again at him.

"Didn't you see that I was in the middle of a conversation?" he burst aloud, forcing Neph to take few steps behind him. "I have never met a woman more intelligent than her and here you are, destroying all my intellectual fun!"

"I, um…"

"You what? Why did you come here for? Apart from the "ruining my day" part!" Zoicite barked and his furious eyes threw more and more daggers.

"Got any cooking books?" the auburn-haired man asked, almost whispering, remembering why he had looked for the damn library so desperate.

"What?" Zoicite's tone simply dropped from extremely angry to dumb, as one of his eyebrows rose and his sight gained an incredible look.

"A cooking book… I have officially been challenged to a cooking contest." He completed the missing information and the blonde did not know wheter to feel like comitting suicide or to fall on the floor in laughter… this situation was way too strange for him. "You see, there was this girl this morning…"

"Aha…"

"And she was stunningly beautiful…"

"I bet…"

"Unfortunately proved herself quite a…"

"Not surprised…"

"So I ended up baking some cake for the Queen's meal tonight." Nephrite ended, gaining one terrified look from his friend… or former friend.

"You what?" Zoicite narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah… kind of…"

"Nephrite, you nearly burned down the entire palace last year when you tried to make youself fried eggs… and then when you tried to make popcorn…" he remembered of several incredibly hillarious and dramatic events in the same time.

"I know… Still, think you could help me?" he wondered, with pleading eyes, which almost turned into puppy ones.

"You do realise that not even the most detailed and secure cooking book in the whole world could actually surpass you… "talents"… do you?"

"Thank you… Could I at least try to do my "job" before jumping to any conclusions?" he spoke sardonically and reached a hand to him, signaling him that he would very much like and need the books he had asked for. Zoicite stared at his hand for a moment, then chuckled loudly and turned to the wooden shelves to search. About ten minutes later he handed the general everything he could find. "Thanks!" Nephrite said and proceeded to the door. However, when he reached the doorway, he stopped and glanced back, speaking with an evil voice. "And don't think I'm done with you and Miss Blue there." He ended, running like mad, and dodging several dictionaries which seemed more than lethal and which were thrown by a very angry blonde man.

* * *

Kunzite took a deep breath and closed his eyes, enjoying deeply the peace and silence after the hard training session. He had to give the blue-eyed blonde points: she was good fighter, much, much better than he had expected… but she didn't have to learn that. He could already imagine the dumb remarks and proud behaviour that would follow such a confession. So, he just kept quiet about it and pretended that she was just another dumb, ditzy, klutzy, idiotic blonde with nothing else than a gorgeous body and a minimal IQ, just enough in order to breathe. Unfortunately, she wasn't all that. And she knew it… at least partly, but she knew it. 

His muscles ached from all the running and dodging and hitting and jumping. It had truly been a while since he had been forced to such a hard period of effort, but he had liked it. It was good, because he was finally managing to get back into shape. She did have a lot of energy… at least that day. He could already imagine her in the middle of a bubble bath, cleaning her dusty skin and most probable complaining about the hard work he had forced her to. After all she was a princess… and all princesses were good at was complaining, gossiping and flirting.

Suddenly, his mind revolved 180 degreesback to the first mental image and his eyes shot open. The venusian princess in a huge bubble bath? How the hell did he end up thinking about that? His mind wondered, searching pretty scared to a straight answer. He was puzzled by his own reactions… though not quite surprised.

"Oi!" a loud voice filled the training area and, from his sitting position, Kunzite only turned back a little his head, so that he could see who was shouting at him, in the middle of his break. Still, judging by the noises and swears coming his way, he didn't even have to do that, in order to identify the man. Jadeite.

"What do you want?' the silver-haired man growled as soon as the blonde reached him.

"Oh, no "hello", no "How do you do, fair Jadeite in this afternoon?"?" he asked mockingly and received a rather bored glare from his friend. "Ok, so I've had the worst time in my entire life and I've come to share this special information with you."

"Do you have anything else to say, except for complaining over and over again about your clothes?" he adressed him a bored and ice cold look, that could make even a demon run away like mad.

"Just that I think that the martian women are the most beautiful and evilcreatures I've ever met. This priestess at the temple where I'm supposed to work has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen… as well as… other body parts. Unfortunately, she is one mean witch with a huge mouth and a voice to match it. Anyway, the point is that I officially hate monk/priest life… and now I have good reasons to do so." He concluded and noticed the absolutely unimpressed and bored look on his friend's face. He sweat dropped and then changed the subject. "So, how did the training go with the venusian princess? She as beautiful and whiny as she is told to be back home?" the blonde asked. In response, the silver-haired man simply took off the black shirt he had on and showed him a pretty lerge wound in his shoulder… a wound she, of course, had no idea about. Jadeite's face droppedwhile Kunzite simply looked away and got fully dressed once again. His face, as usual, held no hint of the pain he could feel… or the emotions.

"Did that answer your question?" he inquired simply.

"Whoa… Kunz, not even Neph can take a hit like that… How did she do it?" he asked, with his blue eyes widened, and pointed at the hidden wound. Kunzite got up and stood right in front of the blonde, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"She is told to be a senshi… Maybe she managed to hurt me a bit… bit I would've honestly expected much better from a senshi… even one so young." He ended and turned, wanting to walk away from the training area and back to his room at the palace.

"You're lucky… She's beautiful and she has fighting abilities. You must be on cloud number nine, huh?" Jadeite exhaled loudly and upset.

"Bubble bath…" Kunzite suddenly mumbled, making it almost impossible for the other to understand. Looking extremely puzzled at the blonde one last time, the shitennou's leader shrugged and walked away, leaving behind a pretty confused and highly unlucky general.

* * *

Serenity got out of her room and looked both ways, checking if there was anyone coming her way. Coast was clear. She entered again and came out one second later, pulling after her the dark-haired man we all know too well. She was taking him to Rei's room, where he was going to stay for the next two or three nights. Of course, the martian hadn't taken the news well… at all. But considering the virtues and stubborn mind, she and Ami were probably the only ones who couldn't be suspected at all of the entire group. However, Ami was pretty much day and night at the library, due to the upcoming exams she was going to take back on her home world. So, Darien was stuck with Rei during the next few days. After Rei, it was Mina's turn and then Makoto's… but everybody suspected he wasn't planning on staying that long. 

"She's not going to kill me, is she?" Darien asked, more or less scared. Serenity suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway, let go of him and turned around, glaring.

"Look, it you weren't so damn stubborn and didn't count so much on first impressions, you'd realise how Rei really is like.Yeah, she might be hot-tempered and that temper might be somewhat damaging, but she's already built her reputation over this part of her character, forcing everyone to picture her as a really bad person… when, in reality, she's actually a very caring and protective person." The blonde said with an incredible amount of emotions in her tone and eyes. Darien stared her, understanding how much she treasured those girls… her friends. Not many were able to care for the people around them and protect them with such a passion. "Come on, let's go…" she motioned him further.

"Look, odango… Forgive me for what I've said about your friend… I can tell that you're close to them… al of them… and the truth is, that I don't think I'd let anyone who'd say something like that about my friends get away with it either." He apologized and received a very surprising warm smile.

"Wow… you've actually taken back your words… I'm impressed." She linked her arm with his and guided through the hallways and halls, towards where Rei had her bedchamber. "Tell me about them." She asked him, several moments later, when they were walking in silence.

"Who?" he sent her a puzzled glance.

"About your friends." She answered and looked at him eagerly.

"Oh… you don't want to hear about them… It's a very long story!"

"Come on! You met my friends, both in reality and through my vision. I want to meet your friends from your point of view so that I won't seem a ditz when I actuallysee them." She pleaded determined and he finally surrendered.

"Alright, alright. Me and my friends go way back… pretty much like you and the girls. It's four of them and they've been my closest… and most protective friends since I can remember myself. We would always run away from our lessons and skip our homework… and Kunzite would always find a viable excuse. Even when he was four he could still give the most logical reasons I could think of. He's always been like that and he pretty much made a career from saving the day."

"Who's that?"

"Kunzite is the oldest of us. He lost his whole family when he was very young, so he closed pretty much his entire heart and soul. He never shows any pain or feelings… nothing. He seemes to be one large rock… but he wouldn't have done so many things in his entire life if he truly were like that. He's the only one who can boss us around… because he's most of the times right. Then there's Nephrite. He's my age and has a terrible passion for astronomy, stars, galaxies… anything that can be seen up in the night sky. I remember taking all of us on field trips with him. He would be capable of staying up an entire night, in the middle of nowhere, only with a telescope and a blaket so that he could see some forgotten sun or planet."

"He sounds really smart." Serenity chuckled.

"Yeah, well he's actually the teaser in the gang… but only when he really loses his patience. Apart from such moments, he's really a great guy… but can sometimes scare off people. Especially if he's with Kunzite… They are the strongest and tallest of us." He explained and smiled weakly. "The smartest is Zoicite and he's also the baby. When we were kids, everyone would pick on him. He's had long wavy blonde hair ever since I know him. He would always be the target of blonde jokes and always would end up with his pride and ego hurt, because he was thousands of times smarter and brighter than the older kids who teased him. That's when Jadeite stepped in. You see, Jade is a blonde too, but not as smart as the others. He's more like the type who whines and swears all day, but in the end does a heck of a job. He can stand teasings and jokes like no one I've seen before, but when he reaches the critical points, he bursts out and does real damage. And, that's it… no more friends." He ended his story and looked at Serenity, who seemed deep in thought, still clinging to his arm.

"You know…" she started, looking up at him, several moments later. "Your friends remind me of mine. You said that Kunzite was the only one to boss you around. He sounds like Mina, because she's also the oldest of us, well with a few months, but she can get out of any situation… no matter how messy it is. Then, that man, Nephrite, his stubborness is very similar to Mako's. Last year, for my…" she suddenly stopped and looked at him strangely "The Queen's birthday party… she stood up two nights to bake all the necessary cakes with her owntwo hands." The blonde spoke rather fast, hoping that Darien did not notice her hesitation. "She can be scarry when she wants to. As for Zoicite, he's definitely like Ami. When we were kids and even now, sometimes, there are bad-mannered persons who call her a bookworm with absolutely no restrain. She's never had the desire of responding people with the same coin, so Makoto and Rei would end up protecting her. And, Jadeite sound like Rei… protective… and capable to stand a lot. It's true, Rei tends to burst from the first moment, but I've seen cases and… well, cases." She gave her opinion and smiled.

"You know… I think we're both very lucky to have such friends." He said, as he noticed that they were approaching the dark-haired beauty's bedchamber, because the entire hallways was turning into an obvious shade of red.

"Do you think that they will come for you?" Serenity inquired curiously.

"Pardon me?" he turned to her, allowing her arm to fall from around his. They were now staring into each other's eyes.

"Do you think that your friends will come to save you?" she bowed her sight, afraid of what his answer might be.

"Odango… I believe so… although I would prefere to reach home without their help… However, I do not believe that I need to be "rescued"… or at least I don't… want to…" his voice drifted away, as he looked away. He could almost feel the sparkles within her eyes… as well as he weird feeling gathering around inside his soul.

"Darien…" she whispered and smiled at him, taking his arm once again and pulling him after her, to Rei's room.

* * *

"I officially hate the guy! You should have seen him! He thought he was the best chef in the world and he didn't even had the respect of asking for MY permission, so that he could cook in MY kitchen!" Makoto paced around the room like mad, greeting her teeth and glaring at everything and everyone within a five meter range. The pink apron was thrown somewhere on a chair and her green dress was still impecable, in spite of the few hours spent baking in the morning. They all had to give her credits for managing to keep herself spotless. Not many had that incredible ability. 

"I think I saw him… He interrupted the discussion I had with the new librarian." Amy put away her glasses, from an armchair near Makoto's bed.

"We have a new librarian?" Rei's voice was heared from the bed, where the beautiful martian princess, still dressed as a miko was laying, facing the tall ceiling and enjoying the fresh air entering through an opened windowsteps away.

"Yes, his name is Zander… and, the strange thing is that he says he's from Mercury, he knows many things about the planet, but I can clearly tell than he's not mercurian. Neither his aura nor features say that." Amy said, rather puzzled and annoyed, because she couldn't figure him out.

"Hmm, that's exactly what I felt about the new guy down at the temple. It's the same as in your case: he claims he comes from Mars, he has all the common knowledge, but I have never seen in my whole life a martian with suchfair hair. Something's not right here." Rei spoke, already deep in thought and examining the ceiling above.

"Who cares! I tell you, he had a weird sparkle in his eyes… as if he were holding some dark secret inside. I tell you, if the Queen herself ends up choosing his cooking over mine, I'll kill him!" the amazonian exclaimed and she continued pacing around the room in a continuum rhythm.

The only one silent was Mina, who stood in another armchair, right by the window, with the soft wind carressing her bangs and beautiful features. She sat curled in the large seat and her blue eyes gazed outside, admiring for the thousandth time the beauty of the moon's gardens. As her eyes wondered around, her mind was captured back in the memories of her barely finished training session. The trainor, who was apparently sent by her father, had known exactly what to answer to her questions and still… Mina could tell that he wasn't a venusian. Venusians were never than silent and dark. Yes, his features were light, with silvery hair and the most strange lavender eyes she had ever met, but his entire personality was dark. He seemed to her more like a demon than an angel… and yet, such an attractive demon.

All her other teachers had even tried to hit on her… yet, this one, was like one huge rock… or block of ice. For the first time in years, she had been dead tired when the session was over… tired and even hurt. But she'd be damned if she'd let him see her weakness. It was a small, but painful enough, wound in her leg, which he didn't even seem to notice. It was anyway going toheal until the following day… when their second encounter was programmed. Mina couldn't help but feel somewhat strange towards the fact that she was going to see him on a daily basis… strangely content.

She had only once thought that she had been in love… and it failed painfully. But this time she was ready to face her inner demons and win the battle. This time she wasn't going to let herself be impressed by minimal facts… this time she was going to stand hard… and not even consider the option of falling in love. Yes, that was for the best…

* * *

Hey people! I have finally ended one hell of a week, so I updated the fanfic. So, if you either like or dislike this new chappie, feel free to click the submit button below and share your thoughts with me. Feel free... free as a bird! 


	6. many strange changes and one huge secret

I don't own Sailor Moon. Sad, but true...

* * *

"Damn!" Nephrite swore as he found out that the compounds he had used for the cake had been the wrong ones… again! He put, this time, too many eggs in the dough. The last it had been too much flour… and the time before that too many eggs… and the time before that he had dropped an almost entire bag of sugar in the bowl. The kitchen looked like a true scene from a horror movie and the auburn-haired shitennou thanked the gods for being all alone inside the hall. If anyone else would see him right now, they'd understand immediately that he wasn't who he claimed to be. And then they'd get to his friends… and then their whole mission would have been for nothing.

Nephrite sighed loudly and stood on a chair, pretty much exhausted… God, who would have ever guessed that cooking could be so darn hard? Now, that he had a better idea of it, he wished he would have never accepted the tall girl's challenge. He was sure that she would definitely manage to bake that bloody cake blindfolded and with only one arm. Damn him and his big mouth. Damn this mission. Damn Zoi and Jade for getting all drunk that night. Damn Kunz for taking the best job he could find. Damn it, damn it all… And then it hit him.

"Of course!" he shouted to the empty kitchen and got up from his chair with a big grin on his face. He now knew where the library was and he was pretty sure that no one else could be there at that time. It was anyway empty when he had visited Zoi earlier and found him only with the water nymph… so, why would wouldn't it be pretty much deserted now?

He walked determined through the many hallways, with a rather proud look on his face and ignoring the puzzled looks he received and the fact that people started laughing after he passed them. Few moments too late, he suddenly understood their reactions: he was entirely covered in either weath, dough or other cooking ingredients. His tall, muscular silhouette must look incredibly weird dressed in the typical white clothes with the ackward little hat on his head and looking as if he had just escaped a fridge.

Not giving them a second thought, Nephrite sped up his steps, managed to reach the library and get in before one of his friends, the Artemis dude who was giving him the creeps or any other royalperson would manage to see him in that compromising position. God, if Jed would see him, he's never hear the end of it.

Inside the large hall, he turned on some lights, although it wasn't absolutely necessary… not yet at least. He threw the hat on one of the tables and proceeded with his task: finding spell books. Of course, those were very rare, but every kingdom had at least two or three… and, well, the Moon Kingdom was known for its magic… so the library should contain more of those papers.

"Hmm, let's see: fairy tales, prophecies, "100 ways to turn your enemies into dragons, phoenix birds and other fantastic creatures"? Hmm… no! Not yet!" he knocked his head lightly, looking away from the last title. "Aha, cooking spells!" he cried in victory as he pulled out a pretty thick book with hard leather covers and golden writings. His eyes held a strange and evil sparkle, perfectly matching the previous maniac look. "Oh well, this may prove itself helpful too…" he mumbled, suddenly very satisfied with his life and pulling the "100 ways" book too, hiding them both in his large coat, set on the what used to be a very white and clean apron.

He exited the library, carefully looking around, making sure that no one had followed or seen him. Next stop was the kitchen.

* * *

'Finally, the last freackin' prayer for the day!' Jade's thoughts wondered around as he tried and managed to pose a perfect position for the last ceremony for that day. His legs had gone numb for some time, but he didn't mind it at all, considering that he was going to escape the crazy, yet unfairly beautiful priestess and jump directly into one long and hot bath. Just the image of that bath made him pray faster in his mind and turn even more serious on the outside. Then, in the middle of that mental bath, appeared the black-haired girl, absolutely naked. That made Jadeite's eyes to freeze and his heart to stop beating for a moment. He opened his eyes widely, as if they were two plates and not two orbs anymore and his mouth dropped.

"Is there anything wrong?" the girl turned to him, one eyebrow rose up, and eyed him strangely… almost as if she had read his mind and seen that dirty… dirty thought. That possibility made him shiver in fear. He might have been one of the strongest men in his kingdom… but he was sure that no man could match that firebird… and her temper.

"N-no… absolutely nothing… just a very deep and… revealing… revelation!" he mumbled dumbly, realising what he had said only after actually speaking it out loud. Therefor, his only option was to smile as stupid as he could and appear either to be drugged or retarded. In the end, he managed to appear probably both, because she turned away from him almost scared. Behind her, he lowered his head and sighed silently, making sure not to draw more attention to him. From next to him, the guy called Yuuichiro patted his shoulder and smiled widely… and equally annoying. His long hair fell into his face, making it impossible for others to see his eyes. Also, his beard was never freshly cut and he always, but always had grown hairs on his face, which didn't inspire too much security to the blonde man. Still he had to admit that he had been angry with Yuuchiro at first, right before meeting him and understanding that he was nothing like the fiery dark-haired beauty. He apologized later and even gave him some sort of "blessing", which had sounded more than fake. His luck was that Yuuchiro was still new at the whole religion thing.

Jadeite had to admit that the guy was a good man… way too good for his own health and, that's why, he always ended up helping everyone who asked him to and usually got into the most impossible situations ever. Truly, Jadeite had to admit that he had never seen a person with a bigger heart… or smaller brain. Still, he thanked his gesture with a warm smile, considering that the man needed it and, after all, he was imposing a priest. Damn Kunzite and his plans!

* * *

"What's up with you?" Kunzite settled down on the small table two cups, each holding some kind of lunarian alcohol, which was absolutely nothing like the drinks back home. It was pretty faint and didn't have any sudden reactions over ones' body, but it was the only drinkable alcohol from the entire planet.

"Nothing…" Zoicite mumbled, clearly upset by something and took one of the drinks.

"Come on! Don't make me beat it out of you. Enjoy the calm and peace until Neph and Jade return." He spoke and received one unbelievable look from his friend. Kunzite had just made a joke. Indeed, not a very good one, but a joke nonetheless.

"Are you ok?" the younger shitennou gave him the weirdest look he was able to perform.

"What do you mean?" the stared down at him curiously.

"Well, let's just say that I can't help but notice a pretty sudden change in your attitude and character. Something's going on with you… Something that you don't want us to find out… Something about your trainee!" Zoicite suddenly shouted and jumped from his sitting spot, staring with wide eyes at his older friend. In response, Kunzite sweatdropped at his first reaction and then coughed, bothered by his words.

"Whatever makes you say that?"

"You made a joke earlier and Kunz, you, you hate jokes!" Zoicite pointed out, watching the silvery-haired man leaning his head from one side to the other, as if taking notice of his words.

"Hm… you might be right… But I wouldn't be so sure that it's about the princess of Venus. I mean, she is beautiful, but I've seen others at home that match her beauty and that have had absolutely no effect on me." He explained calmly, staring into the void, not really focused on something. "However, I wouldn't tell the others about these… changes…" The leader said softly, his words clearly with a hidden meaning. He narrowed his eyes and glared up at the blonde, with an obvious wicked sparkle in his lavender eyes. In response, Zoi nodded his head and smiled dumbly, rubbing his head.

* * *

"That pathetic…"

"Idiotic…"

"Ditzi…"

"Klutzi…"

"Annoying creature!" the two dark-haired girls ended their round of swearing in the same time. Of course, the "blessings" were sent to the two men who had apparently made their day worse than the Armageddon. Both Rei and Makoto had their faces red from the effort and their breaths were hard and deep from the exercise they pulled earlier. It was the end of a terrible day and they both agreed that men were as shallow and dumb as ever. That moment, Makoto had solemnly promised that she wouldn't fall for any guy anymore and Rei had vowed again that she will never get married. Of course, none of the other girls had believed them, but the rest of the senshi now stared pretty scared at the jovian and martian, watching them calm down their bodies.

Serenity ended up in Ami's arms, shivering and almost sobbing, while the mercurian tried to comfort her and give her as much protection as possible. From the other side of the room, Mina simply watched the spectacle in complete silence, not minding the show they pulled out. It was rather strange that Mina was all of a sudden quiet, but the girls gave her the space she needed, knowing what kind of war too much interfering might cause.

"Hey guys!" Darien greeted them with his normal gorgeous smile when entering the jovian's room.

"You!" the dark-haired girls turned around suddenly and pointed two fingers at him, greeting their teeth and growling. That view made the man's smile disappeare completely and even brought fear to his bones. Although he found absolutely each and every one of the girls stunningly beautiful in her own way, he did not like it when they got mad… especially the deadly martian and jovian… In such moments, they were really scarry.

"What did I do?" he rose his hands in defeat.

"You are a man! Nothing more but another pathetic and disgusting human being that think the whole world belongs to him just because you…"

"Rei stop!" Serenity jumped in front of the man and ordered the martian to end her speech before she said something she might regret later. The miko stared at her, both surprised by the lunarian's power and impressed too. Finding herself cut off, she opened her mouth to say something really nasty, but the princess stopped her again. "Why don't you go and shout at Yuuichiro? I mean, at least he likes your shouts, growls andhe enjoys being held in a tight leash by you… I mean, the guy is a drooling just at your sight and here you are, jumping at other people's throats. If you don't like the new priest why don't you just tell him that?"

"I did!" Rei burst.

"And?"

"And he practically told me to bite him!"

"He what!" Ami and Makoto made themselves known, also waking Mina up from her meditation and making her pay attention to the argument.

"Yeah… now you see what I mean?"

"Maybe… but that still doesn't justify you to shout and Darien like that." Serenity kept protecting him and gained a somewhat strange look from the other blonde, across the room. Mina looked up at the princess and saw the aura surrounding her. As expected, she was either starting to fall for the terran or already in love with him. Looking beyond Serenity, she focused on the stranger and saw a similar aura surrounding him. With the two in that specific position, the venusian could tell that the two were really a match. In response, she smiled warmly, happy that her princess had found her soulmate.

While the fight went on, Mina got up from her place and passed Rei, going straight at Serenity. Placing herself right in front of the smaller blonde, she smiled warmly, touched her shoulder in comfort and said.

"I'm glad for you Sere… Now that you have found happiness, always remember how to keep it alive, along with you love…" She then let go of her and passed Darien, exiting the room, which was now left in complete silence. They all stared at her trail, some not understanding one word and some comprehending everything beyond those words.

* * *

"How was your day?" Kunzite asked when Nephrite entered his room, the place where they decided to meet every evening after ending their tasks. Before the auburn-haired man could say anything, Zoicite cut in, with a deadly glare in his eyes.

"Incredibly good, I suppose!"

"Unlike others'!" the taller shitennou stuck his tongue out in the most childish act he could pull.

"Well, if you hand't shown up at that horrid time…"

"Let me guess: you would have had your way with that pretty China doll of yours, right?" he smirked evily.

"Ah, could you be more shallow!" Zoicite burst in disgust.

"At least I'm not lying to my heart… nor my body…" he leaned to the blonde's face and made him blow up with steam.

"Look who's talking! The only reason for which you asked me for those books was to annoy that poor girl from the kitchens. Poot thing, she must have absolutely no idea what's waiting for her!" the younger one was absolutely determined to have his way. One second later, hell broke loose, once with Nephrite's temper.

"Oh my…" Kunzite whispered and started rubbing his temples while the other two were nearly killing each other. They were so loud that none of them had even noticed Jadeite entering and standing next to their leader.

"Well, at least someone's having fun…" the short-haired man spoke and received a puzzled look. He rose his shoulders and then let them down in defeat.

"I can truly say that I hate martians… and that I've learnt that in the worst way possible." He mumbled and joined his older friend at watching the loud show performed only few meters away.

* * *

"Hey Mina." A soft voice made her turn around, away from the beautiful sunset she was admiring up from the highest balcony. Her eyes soon met the warm blue gaze of Ami and she calmed down, glad that it wasn't another one of her crazy friends, having come up to apologize.

"Hey Ami." She greeted her in a similar way and silently invited the mercurian to join her side. The blue-haired girl smiled and walked next to her, enjoying the view as well.

"Crazy day, huh?"

"Crazy week."

"Couldn't agree more." The blonde giggled.

"So, what was that about earlier?" Ami asked after a long moment of silence.

"Haven't you noticed the love-birds? Sere and Darien have fallen for each other."

"Are you sure?" the mercurian asked, a bit frightened, not expecting that kind of news.

"Yup… It might take them a while to understand their feelings, especially Sere… but I believe it will end up ok."

"You seem to be having a lot of faith in love… And after all that's happened to you…"

"Ami! Let's not go there anymore! Ace was a mistake and we all know it. Wether I was hurt or not is of no importance!" the venusian stated determined.

"How can it not? Mina you are a direct descendant of the Goddess of Love herself. You are supposed to greet and bless those who share this feeling! How will you be able to perform such minor tasks if you have felt yourself the pain that love can bring?"

"It's not about me! I still believe in love… just not for me anymore…"

"It shouldn't be like that!" Ami mumbled sadly.

"But it is! I learnt to get over it and forget… and you should definitely not be worried for me! I mean, your aura has changed as well… and I have met the new librarian!" the blonde smirked wickedly, enjoying the mercurian's sudden and furious blush.

"What are you talking about?" she looked away, almost childishly.

"Oh, my Ami is growing up. It appears that these strangers have unusual effects on us… all of us! I mean, I haven't seen Makoto so worked up about her cooking skills since ever… and Rei reacts worse than she does when the monthly event is approaching. And I see that even you are turning red at the sight and words of a man." She smiled sweetly.

"And you? What about you?"

"I… will end up killing that trainer who is supposingly a venusian if he keeps making me fall on my ass. You have no idea how much it hurts… even me!" Mina whined painfully.

"You want some medicine?"

"I'll be ok… But don't be surprised if one of us will die sometimes during the next days." She warned playfully and made her friend giggle a bit. However, her features turned as serious as possible when her friend placed her hands on hers.

"Do me a favour Minako, eh? Don't consider him to be like Ace. I have also caught a glimpse of him and, in spite of the strangely similar features, he doesn't seem to be anything like him. I'm sure that he pushes you up to the limit during training hours because he cares… and I'm sure that he won't hurt you… if you give him the chance."

"But, Ami, who said that I might even be interested in my trainor?" Mina seemed to be serious, but she knew that she only played a part, trying her best to hide what was inside of her. In response, the blue-haired girl smiled.

"Your eyes did."

* * *

"Um, so what do you think that she meant by those words?" Darien asked while she was holding the blonde's arms and leading her through the beautiful gardens.

"I don't know… As far as Mina is concerned, she sometimes can be as tricky and mysterious as the Protector of Time herself." Serenity seemed to be deep in thought, searching for an explanation herself.

"I see… So, have you found your happiness?" he wondered, sending her a curious look below his dark lashes.

"I don't know… Lately so many have happened… and so fast… I guess I'm just confused…" she conffessed, not wanting to reveal anything just yet.

"I see…" he repeated and, this time, remained silent. They walked further into the gardens, until Serenity suddenly stopped him and pulled away from his arm, standing right in front of the terran.

"How about you? Have you found your happiness?"

"As sincere as I can be… yes…" he mumbled, his eyes never leaving hers. "As you said, many thing have happened and very fast… much faster than I would have wished them to be… but I can truly say that I cannot be happier anythwere else… but here…" his voice drifted off as he leaned down to her, letting her understand his silent question. In response, she nodded her head slightly and parted her lips a bit, waiting for the warmth of his mouth to follow. And when it did, she felt up on clud number nine. He tasted her deeply, not sure that he wanted to let go anytimes soon, and sneaked his arms around her small body, pulling her closer… much closer. And the fairy tale moment lasted until…

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" a voice burst out in the complete silence and the two broke off the kiss instantly, but remained embraced. Looking over to their side, they saw a fuming Haruka blowing steam through her ears and staring at Darien with red eyes.

"O-ho… Haruka, look I can explain…" Serenity started, still in his arms.

"What can you explain me? You're too young, you have no idea what's going on here! But he, oh, he is going to pay for this." She cut her off and warned, pointing a finger at the terran, who now didn't know what to do: let go of Sere and run off, or keep her there and end up fighting the woman of Uranus in a direct combat… which, by the look on her face, he would most definitely lose. Still, he went with the second option.

"I am not ashamed of what I have done and neither should be Serenity! We both agreed to this and she knows very well that I would never take advantage of her… ever!" he spoke on a pretty dangerous tone himself and finally let go of her, only to push her behind him, in a protective gesture.

"You bastard! If you touched her I will make sure that you will spend the rest of your living days in hell!" the blonde greeted her teeth and Serenity thought that she was going to explode.

"Now, what kind of man do you take me for?"

"The worst kind! Only that kind could actually dare to approach the princess, charm her and force her into something like this!" she shouted and Darien suddenly broke away from the glaring contest. He looked behind him and, staring into Serenity's blue eyes he asked curiously, also rising an eyebrow.

"Princess?"

* * *

Hey guys. I know, I haven't update in a veeeeeeery long time. Sorry, had a lot of things going on. I truly hope that you'll forgive me and let me know what you think of this chappie right here. So, I hope you liked it and sorry, but I don't know when I'll be able to write some more. Still, I promise that as soon as I'll get more written down, I'll post it. See'ya'll next time!


	7. more bits of truth

Once again, long time without updates... Sorry, I just had (and still have) a lot of project waiting to be finished and I didn't find the time.

I don't own Sailor Moon! Sad... but true...

* * *

"Is she still there?" a blonde young woman asked, entering the large chamber and meeting the sight of two other girls, around her age, both of them gazing outside the windows, at the orchard surrounding the flower gardens. In the same time, the two turned their heads to the blonde and noded their heads. They were both clearly upset by the moon princess' present condition.

"Since this morning." The tall, auburn-haired girl said, shaking her head slowly and making the tail at the back of her head move.

"Her health is starting to worry me. It has only been a week and she already lost few pounds." The other one, with dark blue hair spoke quietly.

"And she's not even eating my cookies anymore!" Makoto turned angry towards the blonde again, scaring the mercurian genius and making her jump two feet away from her current position.

"Take it, Mako-chan." Ami said, patting her back, barely moments later, when she found the courage to return to her jovian friend.

"This can't go on!" Mina said, also looking outside the window and noticing the pair of ponytails walking around the pathways in the small, private park.

"Tell me about it! I don't have who to cook for anymore and that new jerk is taking care of mocking me everytime he gets the chance!" Makoto nearly roared, forcing Ami to jump away again and winning a curious look from the venusian.

"What new jerk?" she asked, all-of-a-sudden forgetting about the lunarian outside.

"Mina! Sometimes I think that you are even more air-headed than our broken-hearted friend out there. I've been groaning, yelling, shouting, even roaring lately about a certain new chef, who's been making me horrible days ever since he showed up." Makoto explained, trying very hard not to burst out in a Rei-type reaction. Still, it was good that the priestess wasn't there in that moment, because they might have destroyed the entire Moon Palace with their attacks, considering the level of rage they both carried right then. Rei could manage to calm down a bit during her fire session, but Makoto's only way to loosen up was to either train with the high-ranked soldiers or to bake. Unfortunately for her though, most of the skilled guards were either on their planets or already beaten and currently receiving medical atenttion. As for delicious hobby, it couldn't be practised anymore, due to a certain obnoxious brown-haired, blue-eyes chef who seemed to be able to perform any recipe. And that made the jovian princess ready to blow up.

"When did he arrive?" Mina went on with the questions.

"About a week and a half ago… One or two days after Darien showed up. His name is Nathan and apparently he's been one of the best cooks at the palace so far!" Makoto spoke with sarcasm. "God, he a pain in the…"

"You know, Zander showed in the same day too!" Ami exclaimed before the jovian could finish her thought. However, her line had more impact than she would have assumed. Two widened pair of eyes, one green and another one blue, turned to stare at her, while two mouths dopped open.

"Zander?" Mina asked teasingly, while the tall princess couldn't recover from her state. Ami blushed immediately and lowered her head, covering her face with her bangs.

"I… um…"

"And how come you've never told about this Zander before?" Makoto finally managed to mumble.

"I did!" the mercurian's head shot up and her looked at them almost hurt. "But You were too preoccupied in complaining about the new chef and you've been in another world for more than a week now. You know, ever since you new trainer showed up." Ami pointed out, trying to switch their atenttion from her. And she successfully managed to.

"That's right!" Makoto turned her head from one of her friends to the other. However, unlike Ami, Mina didn't even seem to have a reaction at all. "You never gave many details about the new guy."

"Well, he's the first trainer in years that can actually win against me… easily… And trust me, it hurts." Mina crossed her arms over her chest and immediately after she ended, she seemed to fall in her own world again.

"What the hell is going on here?" Makoto asked suddenly, after few long moments of silence. Both the princesses eyed her curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"If we wouldn't have found that Darien guy half naked in our garden, none of this would have happened." She spoke, unhappy with her life.

"Well, it's too late to solve anything. What's been done is done." Ami explained, with a sad tone herself, shrugging her shoulders. She wasn't that unsatisfied with her past week, but she did feel sorry for her friends.

In the following silence, Mina gazed over at Ami, who was staring outside once again, along with the now restless chef. The mercurian had said something about not being able to change back the harm that had been done. Deep in thought, Mina analysed all her possiblities. She could either talk to Darien openly, or lead a silent war. But there was something she could do… something only she could do. Not minding the other two anymore, the blonde venusian took off running and heading to some unknown place.

* * *

There it was again. The bloody feeling that annoyed him everyday during lunch, everytime he ended up alone in the large library, everyone else being away during their break. The feeling that never left his side in the past few days, ever since they reached the Moon and started their jobs.

Zoicite sighed deeply and rubbed his closed eyelids, realising that he was more tired than he would have thought. He also undestood the certain present emotion, but considered that trying to put in at the back of his mind would be the best solution.

After all, he and the rest of the generals had been for a while now there and they were running out of time, considering they wanted the Prince's "accident" to pass unnoticed by the others. Still, if they hadn't been forced to take this trip they would have never seen the lunarian wonders, nor they would have met the young women that now seemed to torment each one of them.

Jadeite had found his match in the fiery priestess and had ended up hating his days due to her and her attitudes. Is he had ever thought some things about religion and the people practicing a sort of belief, the martian woman had definitely changed his mind completely. Zoicite could prove that he had never seen nor heard his fair-haired friend swearing that much ever before. Still, he liked that every morning, just after sunrise, he would go back to the wooden temple, taking all the routine back from square one. It was simply suicidal, but it seemed to have a rather funny effect on the rest of his friends.

For example, Nephrite could only tease him lately, because he only got to see him complaining all day. The others were always away and Jadeite had always been one of the easiest persons to annoy ever. It must have been his volcanic character. Still, even the auburn-haired general seemed more calm than usual. It was probably because of the amazonian young woman that was in charge of the Queen's meals. Lately, it seemed that she had a new hobby… and that was to torture Nephrite and force him to cook more and more. Luckily for him, none of the servants had discovered his book of spells… yet. Yes, Zoicite knew about it, because he was the librarian, for God's sake. He could always tell when one of the books was missing, despite the fact that he was still new there. He just hoped that his friend wouldn't get killed once his "secret" was found.

And then there was Kunzite… the always strong and silent Kunzite… who had lately reacted more than unusual. At first it was the jokes, then the day-dreaming session and now the spending of more and more time at the training grounds, even when his v.i.p. student wasn't there. Everytime he would fall into his own unknown world, the rest of the shitennou eyed him strangely, almost terrified by their friend's reaction. Whatever the blonde venusian had done to him… it was more than working.

"Zander?" a quiet voice spoke behind him. In a second, the blonde general turned around, only to face the calm and warm blue gaze of his favourite visitor.

"Lady Ami!" he bowed, not necessary out of courtesy, but with the sudden need of hiding his blush.

"I thought we were calling each other only by our names." She smiled almost childish and even blushed a bit. He got up and stared at her almost surprised. He had never seen a girl act like her before… then again, she wasn't a terran.

"Yes, I had fogotten that… I'm sorry." He smiled and lightly hit his head.

"Oh, don't be! I mean…" she started trembling and blushed. "We had already consented to that… and I don't think that would have liked it any… other way…" she ended in a whisper and looked anywhere else than at him. His mouth fell open at her words.

"I wouldn't like it differently either…" he confessed and gained a shocked stare from her. She held her books above, covering half of her face, but allowing him to see her widened blue orbs. In a matter of seconds, not really thinking, he gently pushed her books down and gave the mercurian a light kiss over her lips. One moment later, they were both staring at each other, speechless, none of them believing that he had just done that. While Ami wasn't breathing and red as a tomato, Zoicite was panting and wanted to kick himself for acting that fast. A second later, he turned around and walked straight to the door, but stopped mid-way. Thinking for a minute, he returned and this time wrapped his arms around the blue-haired girl, kissing her harder that the first time, but still gently, and not allowing her to run in case that thought could have passed through her resourceful mind. In spite of both their expectations, she dropped the books from her hands and embraced him tightly, immediately responding to his lips' reactions.

* * *

"Don't you think that was a bit too hard?" Michiru played in Haruka' hair while they sat on a large blanket, enjoying the beautiful day below an old tree which gave them just enough shadow.

"No!" the princess of Uranus answered, already annoyed that the neptunian had chosen a time like this to start such a discussion.

"Still, I think she liked the young man you told me about."

"So? That doesn't necessarily mean that he liked her." She fought back.

"How would you know?" Michiru teased with a smirk playing on her lips.

"Let's just say that I can anticipate all male actions." Haruka answered on a sarcastic tone.

"Really? Then how could you not forsee that venusian general hurting the one you consider a younger sister? Or was that sense inexistent at the time?"

"You have no mercy, do you?" the blonde asked and she received a definite answer. "Fine! I made one mistake and because of that Mina was hurt… and she still is, no matter how many times she tries to deny it. I trusted the guy and he proved himself to be a rat. One that I would have immediately squashed like a bug if he hadn't flown away. But I guess it's better that he did so…" Haruka gritted her teeth and cletched her fists, once again remembering what had happened less that two years before the present time.

"Take it easy! I didn't mean it like that anyway!" Michiru explained.

"Then how?"

"Well, I only saw this man for a very short while… But I have a good feeling about him." The wavy-haired princess looked at the entire garden with her normal calm gaze.

"Tell me that you're kidding!" the blonde's rising tone demanded once again attention.

"No! I think that he really might be a good choice for Serenity." Michiru stared straight up at her lover.

"Whatever could make you think that!" she was almost enraged with what she heard.

"Well, he had managed to escape your wrath for the past week or so… and no one has ever managed to reach that record before… And then, he was actually acting properly to all the girls and I'm sure that he treated Serenity with special attention."

"I'll say special attention! Kissing her behind the roses, in the orchard, where no one could see them…" Haruka mumbled.

"They did need their privacy… and I'm sure that the girls wouldn't have allowed them alone if they didn't have a good hunch about this… especially Mina…"

"Michi, don't!" he blonde wished that she could just stop.

"You've seen how much she's changed and how protective she became. After Ace, she hadn't even allowed Makoto to get any more crushes and we both know how fast our princess of Jupiter can fall for a guy… even if it passes fast, in the end." The princess of Neptune ended her speech and watched Haruka let out a deep and heavy sigh.

"And what would you like me to do?" she finally turned to her lover, only to see her smiling kindly.

"You said that when he heard you calling Sere "princess" he looked shocked. So, it means that he had no idea who she was… and it is very strange for a lunarian or any citizen of the Silver Millenium to not recognize Queen Selenity's daughter… Which means only one thing…"

"He can't be coming from any of our planets…" Haruka ended for her.

"Except for Terra…" Michiru looked at her strangely, knowing that they had bumped into some very important information. Haruka suddenly got up and help her lover to rise from the blanket as well. "Where are we going?" she asked as the blonde dragged her through the orchard back to the palace.

"To find some answers!" the princess of Uranus spoke determined, silently announcing the wavy-haired that there was nothing that could stop her now.

* * *

A week had passed since the event concerning the princesses of Moon and Uranus, along with the stranger coming up from Earth, through some unknown way of transportation. After the kiss between shared by the two, Haruka walking up on them and the revealing of Serenity's true heritage, as well as her friends', everything had become ackwardly silent.

Darien kept sleeping in one of the girls' rooms, except for Serenity's, making the blonde princess sob panfully, because she didn't receive his attention anymore. Everytime they met each other in the hallways, he would greet her appropriately and then walk away, breaking all over again her heart. He treated the others pretty much the same, but none of them was as bothered by this fact as the lunarian was. However, they could see the regret in his eyes and sometimes even hear him whisper her name at night. Still, none of them would say anything about it, hoping that they would just pass this stage and get back to the way they were. Until…

"You have to do something!" Mina stop right in front of his chair, her hands holding her hips and her eyes glaring down at him. Slowly, he rose his sight to her, understanding what she meant, but deciding to play dumb.

"About what?"

"Don't toy with me!" she warned with narrowed eyes. "I might be a blonde, but I can clearly see your aura and Sere's. Whatever you would like me to believe, I know that you two had fallen in love with each other and I know that this forced separation hurts both of you in equal ways." Darien simply rose an eyebrow.

"What makes you think that I feel that way for your princess?"

"Because otherwise you would have questioned her thoroughly over the reason for which she hid the truth away from you. However, you did exactly what a lover would do… you started punishing her by cutting her off. It wasn't very nice of you, but it did confirmate my thoughts. You two are soulmates." Mina stated determined, as serious as possible. Darien chuckled.

"Princess of Venus, you disappoint me. I thought you would know everything about love and men. And yet, here you are, actually expecting a man to believe this load of crap about legendary love connections. You should have really known by now that men don't stand these kind of things." He mocked her and forced her to turn her back at him, walking few steps further away in order to hide the pained look on her face.

"Well then, it's a truly shame… I actually had the naivity of considering you different." She answered back and turned to him only enough to catch a glimpse of his sitting body. "After all, the princess was destined to someone else… It's just a shame that she had received this fake vision over love, prince Endymion of the Golden Kingdom" With those words, the blonde princess turned completely away and left her room and the man in it. Darien stared at her trail, almost ashamed of her words, understanding that she had found out somehow who he really was, and wondering what she had meant when saying that Serenity was destined to someone else. For the first time in his entire life, the prince of Earth felt the deep and painful bite of the jealousy.

* * *

Ok, that's it... I know, it's shorter than the others, once again apologies.

I hope you'll like it and that you'll take your time and write me a review. I don't ask much, just a few words if possible... Well, see you next time!


	8. five strange situations

I don't own Sailor Moon... sad, yet true...

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"As you know, next week there will be tremendous ball, celebrating the arrival of our princess' suitor." A petite woman with long wavy dark hair spoke as she walked back and forth in front of them. All the people working at the palace were standing in front of the woman, listening carefully to all her instructions. Among them, Nephrite appeared to be paying attention to the woman, named Luna, but in reality only thought of the fiery brown-haired beauty several feet away from him. Unlike Neph, Makoto was actually listening to what Artemis' counterpart had to say and wasn't glancing back at him. However, Makoto was definitely not a guy… unlike Neph. "So, I would like our newest chef to bake the royal cake this year…" Luna spoke loudly and the entire kitchen staff turned towards the blue-eyed stranger… who happened to gaze almost dreamily at the amazonian.

Still, when he noticed the change of her features, the astonishment and anger from her green eyes that were now glaring back at him, he understood that he had either done somethin… or he was about to… A bit embarrassed he glanced at his right and saw the entire group silently staring at him… with Luna in their middle. So he did what any other modest person would do.

"Of course I will!" he rose up his voice and lifted a hand towards the sky. "I will take this challenge and thus prove my skills to the Queen…" he proudly spoke and then bowed gradually, turning his gaze to the fuming Makoto. "… and her humble servants." He bowed completely and watched the amazon furiously walk out of the kitchen. Right then, an evil smug covered his face, as he considered his mission at least half-way completed.

"I'm glad that you feel this honoured." Luna approached him with a maternal smile on her face, making the terran general thank the gods that she was there instead of Artemis. "I will give you the special recipe this evening and I expect you to proceed with it immediately. The ball begins in five days and the cake must be large enough for 500 guests." She informed him, this time gaining an outraged and desperate look from him. She smiled again and turned around, leaving the kitchen. Behind her, Nephrite was still shocked, hoping that the others would find the Prince before the ball or that somehow a lightening would strike him down within the next 120 hours.

"500 guests?" he asked himself on a lost tone and, for the first time, felt that he sould have probably allowed the dark-haired goddess of the kitchens to go for it… at least she knew what was waiting in line… and she must have had the experience to go through the entire task by herself in the previous years. "But, by gods I will not be defeated by a mere girl!" he shouted with his usual dramatic voice, once again taking a deep breath and turning proud. The next moment, he fastly left the kitchen, leaving behind a trail of star-struck people.

"Are you ok?" Mina sat next to the moon princess, on a cold stone bench, in the middle of the blooming orchard.

"Concerning what? My former friendship with Darien… or Seiya's arrival?" Serenity turned to one side, so that she could be able to look at her venusian friend.

"Both, I guess…"

"I miss… Darien… a lot…" she admitted, while bitting lips so that she wouldn't shed tears again. "But, maybe the fact that Seiya is coming back is a good thing… maybe this way I'll forget about Darien and finally fall in love with the one that I am destined to have as my husband." She turned to the other young woman and noticed that her head was lowered and her face hidden behind the blonde bangs. "Mina?" she inquired worriedly.

"It's ok Sere… you mustn't hide your true feelings just because others tell you to do so or consider it appropriately." The venusian whispered and rose up her face, allowing the lunarian to see the tears on her face. "That's why I love my planet… there you can let your feelings be seen by the others… There you don't have to hide your love… your pain… your grief… Forgive me Sere, but I know that what is between you and Darien is much stronger than a mere friendship. I know you care for him…"

"Mina…" Serenity begged with a helpless voice and started crying again.

"You shouldn't hide it!" the venusian pleaded her strongly. "You should tell him… now! Before it's too late!"

"But…"

"Not buts, Sere!" the blonde venusian suddenly held the lunarian's shoulders toughly, forcing her to look into her eyes. "You must do as your heart tells you to… or you might end up living in unfulfillment and hatred the rest of your life. If you will not care for Seiya as you believe you will, you need to admit it before it will be too late… or you will regret it… and I don't want you to live unhappy for the rest of your life, Serenity… my friend and future Queen…" Mina ended and smiled weakly. In response, the girl literally threw herself in the venusian's arms, once again thanking her for the strangely mature advices… and for her simple presence then and there.

------------------------

Phobos and Deimos once again stood restless on the high gates of the martian shrine. As Rei swept the floors with a simple broom, trying to calm down and focus on her prayers, the crows' screams announced the arrival of Jaden, the new priest.

Without stopping from her daily activity, the dark-haired miko gazed over, noticing how the blonde man walked and acted inside the shrine's perimetre. He would remain calm and quiet all the time, but Rei could still not pass beyond his aura. The man was a walking mystery. She had no idea weather he had somehow gained that wall around his mind and heart with training… or if he had been simply born with it. But it was crystal clear to her that he was no martian. He couldn't be! The hair was too light-coloured… and so were the eyes. Everyone on Mars was dark-haired and eyed… Yuichiiro and herself were the living proof to that theory… and yet, there he was, a stranger claiming to be a martian, when it was clear that he may not have even visited the planet in his entire life.

Her faithful crows once again made themselves present and Rei looked up to see them moving frantically their wings. No, they did not like Jaden either… and yes, they did consider him a liar and a potential danger. Unfortunately, Rei had yet no idea how good he could fight. Yes, she may have been a senshi, but she still had to know how to proceed with this man… and she needed to find out his weak points.

Suddenly, Phobos flew away from his place and took off, flying above the shrine and onto the garden at the back of it. Rei amethyst eyes following his flight and, putting the broom away, she followed him, with Deimos right behind her. Several moments later, when she ended in the back yard, she stopped, not believing her eyes.

There, metres in front of her, stood on his knees the young priest, his eyes closed pointing the fact that he was deep in meditation. Watching him carefully, Rei noticed a sudden aura surround him, one that was much stronger than she would have expected it.

In the same time, Jadeite, code-name Jaden, felt stranger chills down his back. It was rather a strange feeling, considering he only went through it when Kunz or Neph were staring merciless at him. But Kunzite was stuck to those training fields worse than he would be back home, while Neph was probably to busy drooling over the brown-haired cook to visit him. And still, the chills demanded him to stop faking his meditation and turn around. Finally moving his head to glance over his right shoulder, he got quite a surprise… one that made him turn livid.

When she noticed him finally gazing at her and turning as pale a ghost, she understood that more trouble was on the way. Never before had her presence been detected so… easy. It was almost humiliating for a person with her rank. And what was worse was that HIM, out of everyone on that damned satellite, had managed to catch her off guard.

"Um… what are you doing?" the blonde man finally took the risk and inquired.

"Nothing!" she promptly answered and turned stiff. The response only made him rise an eyebrow.

"Ok…"

"Forgive for having interrupted your meditating session. It was not my intention to do so." She spoke coldly, closed her eyes, exhaled loudly and immediately turned around, in order to leave him alone once again.

Behind her, Jaden's jaw was fallen and his eyes opened as large as possible. She had actually apologized. Indeed, he had seen her mouth opening and closing, he had heard her voice speaking those words…

Moments later, when she was entering the shrine, the blonde man was still in shock, following with his eyes her every move, up until she disappeared inside the wodden building. It was barely then that he finally started breathing and blinking again.

"It's clear. The end of the world has arrived…" he muttered while shaking his head.

-------------------

After taking the princess back to her room to calm down, Mina finally considered that it was time for her usual training session. Unlike the previous days, she was incredibly late and was probably due to a severe punishment coming from her silver-haired teacher. Still, if that punishment would mean a true fight against him, Minako would be more than happy to accept it. Such a challenge could never be turned away by any means. And she was one senshi that loved challenges.

"You're late!" came his stern voice as she stepped inside the arena. His back was facing her and Minako regretted the fact that she couldn't see his emotions' game displayed on his features. However, when he turned around one moment later, Mina began to think that he did not carry any emotions at all: both his face and eyes were a complete blank, making him appear almost inhuman. "I know what it is that you wish, but, due to your lack of consideration, you will not receive that today." He answered sharply and Minako cletched her jaws. How could he see right through her? No one else could do that to her… not even Ace had managed to do that as easily as this man could.

Suddenly realising that she was once again thinking about the traitor, she started shaking her head and lifted her hands to hide her eyes, in order to keep the tears away. She couldn't allow him to see the pain she was still going through each day… she couldn't even allow herself to pass through the same thing over and over again, but let him observe her like this!

"Come! There is much to do before the sun will set!" he ordered as he passed by her, this time not even bothering to glance at her. She only sent him one glare and understood soon enough that he was not about to grant her a single extra moment. But in the end, a good work-out session was never bad and it was apparently the only thing that managed to bring her out of her tormenting memories. Sighing only once, she followed him and silently waited for his commands.

------------------

click-click-thud. click-click-thud. click-click-thud.

This was incredibly embarrassing and strange at the same time. She leaned the book only a bit, but more than enough to catch a glimpse of his Zander's busy self. It was already the fifth interruption she brought to her reading and only within the past half an hour.

Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it would escape her chest any moment now. Rising the book again, she tried her best to regain her composure and escape the mad blush that was now covering her entire face. She started reading again, this time completely focused on shutting away all her senses (except for the sight) and think only about the materials she was either scanning or thoroughly reading.

It was barely an hour later that she felt she was being watched. Returning to reality, she looked around her, and the hall's emptiness and lack of foreign sounds told her that she was alone in the room. Shutting the book, she came to realise that she wasn't completely alone. A sudden thump made her jump a bit and glance towards the bookshelves in the back.

Another thump made her get up from her seat and follow the noises towards their source. Of course, she knew that there was only one person who could produce all that trouble only to get her attention, even if it meant only a five-minute break from her studies. Her heart started beating loudly again as lovely shade of pink took over her skin again.

Turning to her right and walking through the farthest shelves in the library, she finally found him. He was on his knees, sorting out some heavy book. As he twisted and turned, the rebellious dirty blonde curls played on his back, while the shortest strands kept falling from behind his ear, forcing him to put them back in their place every ten seconds with a loud sigh. Ami smiled sweetly, finding his routine quite amusing.

As if he had felt her behind him, Zander turned around and stood up when he saw her. Indeed he had produced all that noise to draw her thoughts, but he had never imagined her to actually follow him up to this place.

"Ami! Have I…? Please forgive me for interrupting your studies." He spoke as he gazed at her in his unique way.

"Don't worry, you haven't…" she assured him and gazed back, sustaining his look without problems, although her cheecks were starting to burn rather bad. "What were you doing here?" she finally asked, glancing at the boxex behind him.

"This? I've been arranging them by type and name. They're just some old books I've found yesterday in the basement. I've recognized quite a few titles and decided to bring them up. I really don't understand why some would hide away such good books…" he smiled and turned to see her again. But then it happened: his sigh fell on her lips and he acquired a sudden desire to touch those lips… preferably with his own… and therefor… "Please forgive me!" he begged right before catching her completely into his arms and covering her mouth fastly, but still not in a very intruding way. He pressed his lips to hers, touching her nose with his own from time to time, as if shyly asking for her acceptance. And then she offered him that…

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For the first time in his life, Prince Endymion really felt lousy. All day he had been hiding either in Rei's room or wondering off among the many hallways and gardens. He wasn't sure if he was hiding from Haruka, the mighty woman that could scare off an entire army of men with a simple glare, or Serenity, the beautiful moon princess that he had so oftenly dreamed of during his childhood years. However, none of those dreams had managed to predict that he would end up actually falling in love with the lunarian.

And still, the fight with the blonde girl was not the only problem bothering his mind. The previous day, one of Serenity's best friends had informed him that she was aware of his true identity. How she had ever managed to get hold of that information or come to solve the mystery he had deliberately created around himself was still an enigma. If Minako told the others about this or even spoke to the Queen, everything would become possible… even a war between the Moon and the Earth.

It was now that he regretted the most using those ancient spells along with his generals. Of course, if that hadn't happened, he would've never met the girls or seen the beauty that the Silver Alliance could carry. Ever since childhood he had wished to visit the Moon's legendary gardens… and now that he found himself in the middle of his own fairy-tale, he only considered to be a dirty outsider. He should have never hurt Serenity…

"My, my! Aren't I surprised to meet you here… again!" a voice he feared most brought him back to reality. Turning around pale as a ghost, he froze in his seat. Right there stood tall and proud as usual, the mighty short-haired woman, completely dressed in men's clothing that, surprisingly enough, fitted her perfectly.

Fast enough, Darien jumped from his seat and stared at her blankly. His mouth opened slightly as if to speak up, but when no words left his throat he started feeling really embarrassed. He knew what he wanted to say, but seeing Haruka this close paralysed him completely.

"Well, aren't you at least going to say something in your defense?" she spoke with a clearly annoyed voice and glare at him.

"Haruka! I thought you said you wanted to find out the truth, not kill him with a simple look." A much calm and soothing tone filled the tight atmosphere, somehow bringing a slight sense of calm to the entire situation. In the next moment, from behind Haruka, a lightly shorter woman appeared. She was dressed in a dark green layer of slik and her hair fell graciously in slight curls over her shoulders. Opening her eyes and gazing at the young man, she allowed him to see the bluish colour of her eyes, that matched perfectly the one of her hair. Observing her features carefully, Darien couldn't help but compare this new person with Ami: they seemed to resemble just enough perhaps to even pass as sisters, but the huge differences were still noteable. Ami's hair and eyes were clearly blue, while this woman's also carried a certain nuance of green. Also, he could tell from her posture that she was not as shy and perhaps not even as childish as Ami.

"I will get my answers… not matter what I must do for them…" the blonde woman answered back and sent another deadly look towards the stunned man.

"Haruka!" the woman spoke only once, this using a harsh tone. As if commanded, the blonde "hmph"ed, crossed her arms and stared anywhere else. "Please excuse her moods. Ever since she felt that something was different about Serenity, she started acting this possessive. I really don't know what's gotten into her." The new-arrived apologized with a calming smile and took a few steps towards the extremely silent man.

"I really apologize for causing you such distress." Darien took a deep bow.

"Hmm, Haruka, I thought that you said he had the skills of a simple farmer and the looks of a demon." The blue-haired mused and gained an incredible stare from her lover. "Then I must say, this demon is very handsome and he definitely doesn't seem to lack manners at all." She continued and enjoyed the outrage look on Haruka's face.

"W-what?" she only managed to ask.

"Calm down. You know that no demon could ever stand above you." The wavy-haired leaned a bit and ended in a whisper. It was barely now that the blonde let out a deep breath and turned to the man again.

"Right! Now back to business. Who are you?" she demanded.

"Me?" Darien rose his eyebrows in surprise. He knew perfectly well that this particular question was one of the very few he could not answer… at least not while standing on the Alliance's grounds. "I'm just a man who suddenly woke up one day in these beautiful gardens and happened to run into the princess."

"So you're saying that you don't remember your past?" the wavy-haired woman inquired.

"Liar!"

"Haruka, would you please let me handle this?" she turned again and this time simply glared.

"Fine!"

"Well?" she turned back to him.

"You could say that… as well…"

"The thing is that we are not only worried about the changes Serenity had gone through ever since meeting you… but also of your previous whereabouts. It is not every day that a man drops out of nowhere in these gardens." Her tone was starting to get very serious, as was the look in her eyes. "The palace is highly guarded and no one can enter or exit with the Queen's approval. Now, something tells me that the Queen does not even know about your presence here… therefor, how did you manage to enter?"

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I haven't updated this story in AGES! Literally! But, as usual, the was a certain someONE who wouldn't give me break until I finally started working on this fanfic too...

So here it is, one new update for a pretty old story. Can I hope for any reviews?


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